Outsider Dice
by whodidthewhatnow
Summary: A young man wakes up after being healed by the Strongest Witch on Earth, Lucretia Zola. Except he's fairly sure his world had no magic. And what is that strange Dice he rolled, and who is this X who keep sending 'quests' to him? Dice, The Cube That Changed Everything, Exalted Mechanics and Campione Crossover.
1. Chapter 1

I stood up to see what the hell that damn noise was that kept getting louder and louder by the minute. Opening the door from my room I walked a bit and saw some other people coming to see what it was all about.

Turning the corner into the yard, I was greeted with the strangest sight I had ever seen before.

The sound I was hearing before was that of a fucking airplane crashing down upon the ground, more specifically the pension's house. As it descended time appeared to slow down and I could see the details of my situation more accurately. The airplane was too big for me to properly dodge with how close it was, and combining with that fact it was also on fire and would probably explode once it hit the ground. The sound was deafening and around me I could see my fellow neighbors trying to run, but they were practically stopped mid motion.

While the world was going at a crawl the airplane, by contrast, was coming down at a reasonable speed, almost hitting me right in my face. I only had time to think a few words before my world exploded in pain. It lasted only an instant, then complete nothingness.

~~O~~

I woke up with a start, thinking what I saw was some elaborate dream. However, I could feel something gripping my torso. Looking there, I found some bandages. Checking myself over revealed I was completely wrapped up in the things. Now that I was more awake I could see my surroundings were different from my own room.

It was a medium sized room, probably 4x5 meters in area compared with the 1.5x2.5 room I usually slept in. There was nobody else here and the decorations seemed old fashioned, resembling an old colonial-style room I visited once when I was a kid.

Standing up I started taking off the bandages over my arm to scratch at an itch, but found only unmarred skin underneath. Now that I noticed it I could feel I was fine aside from the itching. Removing my bandages I soon found out that nothing was wrong with me. I was in perfect health.

How long I was out?

I was about to go look for someone else when my eye caught sight of something out of place in an old style room like this one. On the drawer at the side of my bed, there was a modern smartphone and a single, strikingly bright blue six sided die at the side of it.

Curiosity peaking, I checked the phone and found no reception and opening it was discovered there wasn't even a chip. Shrugging I then took the die so I could admire its composition. A six-faced blue die that, looking closely, I could almost see tiny white dots inside its six-faced blue surface.

I tossed the die on the drawer to see how it rolled. The dice landed on [1], not one of my best rolls, when suddenly there was a bright, but brief, flash coming from the die. Looking down at it I saw it had become a striking red color.

The cellphone rang, and while I wondered how it had rang without a chip I saw there was one text message.

**'Congratulations! You are now a dicer.'**

**'(-.^)'**

I grabbed the phone and checked again to see if I didn't miss seeing the chip on my previous look. Nope, still not there. Then, how did I get a message?

Also, Dicer? The hell is that? What kind of promotion has that name? It didn't even properly finish the ad, giving me congratulations but no further information. Closing back the cellphone with its battery in place another message came.

**'Hey, don't take out the cellphone battery! ]:\'**

**'If you do so I can't talk with you.'**

I blinked once, twice, then let out a single word. "What."

Again, another message.

**'Ohhh... you're going to be one of /those/ aren't you ]:\'**

**'Well, I guess I need to start somewhere. My name is X. What's yours?'**

Now this was getting creepy. How I am getting these messages? Is this some elaborate game I turned on without knowing? Putting the cellphone in my pants' pocket, I ignored the other message it sent to me so I could concentrate on more pressing matters. Like 'where the hell I am' and 'why I am alive' being at the top of my list.

Looking around, I couldn't find anything else to wear so I decided to explore the place dressed as I was. Opening the door, I found a small corridor with a yellow wallpaper with falling leaves covering the walls, small old style lamps resembling fishes with light bulbs in their mouths brightened the place.

In the corridor there were a few more doors, all locked except for the farthest one. Opening it I was graced with a set of stairs leading to a more illuminated room, again with mostly ancient looking furniture.

"I see you are awake, yes?" I heard the sound of a melodious voice coming from downstairs, and taking a few more steps down I could see the apparent owner of the voice.

To say she was beautiful is to say that water is wet, a ridiculous understatement, especially if you consider she's absolutely my type. I felt the inside of my mouth dry, a lump forming inside my throat and certain other unmentionable things happened.

At least I was completely sure I was alive. Either that or I was sent to a hell optimized to torment me at every opportunity.

Biting on my lip to gather whatever courage I had, I told myself there was nothing to lose. After all I took an airplane to the head and lived to tell the tale. With a deep breath I resumed the descent of the stairs. "I'm better now, thanks for asking."

Once below I could see the woman better. She was slightly shorter than me with long brown hair that hit her hips, wearing a revealing short dress that hugged her curves with plenty of room to see her ample bosom.

I almost slapped myself. Stop staring! Directing my eyes to the corner of her face between her mouth and eye I managed to calm myself down. "Err, my name's Ryuan if you don't mind."

"I don't mind, Ryuan", she said my name with a coy smile. "You may call me Lucretia or 'dear', whichever you wish."

"Ah, uh, SO! What happened? Why am I in your house instead of the hospital. Or the morgue."

From somewhere on her person came a bottle of wine from which she poured herself a glass before giving me some. I graciously accepted without intention of drinking. "I found you outside on the ground, your clothes tattered and burned, so I healed you."

"I see", which meant I didn't. It certainly doesn't explain how I'm not a charred corpse. "How long was I out? I'm feeling fine and I don't see any burn marks. It's really weird."

Chuckling, she came closer to me as if to whisper some secret. "What would you say if I told you I'm a witch?"

My first instinct was to tell her she's out of her mind, but carefully thinking it out there were more than enough things that didn't make sense, like the fact I'm still alive without a single injury on my body.

There was also that die back in the room, with its entrancing blue color that somehow changed to a deep red after I inadvertently rolled. Something inside my gut, perhaps a memory, made me believe that die was really important.

"Normally I would say you're out of your mind." I started without thinking, "but somehow I don't believe you're lying or joking."

"Good answer", she said between sips, "if you implied I was a liar I would have no choice but to turn you into a frog".

Somehow the threat didn't sound so empty.

"Anyway, where am I? I can see a field from the window so we must be outside of the city. I also have to call some people before they tear their hair apart trying to find me."

"City? You must have wandered a lot then, after all I found you in front of my house. As to where that is we're in the countryside of Italy."

Suddenly I stopped. Italy?

"You're speaking Portuguese."

"And I also speak Spanish, English, French, German, Swedish, Japanese and several other languages, a few dead and dying ones too if you're interested." She said between sips.

"I can't be in Italy, I was last in Brazil!"

She paused for a minute, looking at her drink through the sunrays cast through her window before shrugging. "Someone must had a vested interest in your survival then, to bring you all the way to my doorstep."

This is, this is too surreal. I felt my head spinning and breathing was becoming hard.

"I think, I need to lay down for a while. Can I use the room I woke up in?"

"Be my guest dear." With a final wink she went back to her drink, ignoring me for the moment.

What the hell is going on?

~~O~~

Back at 'my' room I sat down thinking over what Lucretia said. Somehow I found myself on the far off shores of Italy of all places, unless my rescuer was lying. I felt that last option was very unlikely, however.

Looking at myself I also felt fine, no burn marks or caved in skulls or broken bones, not even stitch marks could be seen on my skin, and I was very thorough with the search. In fact it looked like even old scars were completely healed, leaving no mark anywhere.

Sitting down at long last, I felt something in my pants' pocket, and taking it out I remembered the messages I received.

Deciding there was nothing better to do, I checked the smartphone. It was a new, relatively expensive version of those commonly seen on the streets, possibly being able to hold the newest generation chips for faster internet connections.

After looking at the cellphone I saw a few messages I hadn't read yet. Opening them I was graced with some strange messages.

**'Hey, don't ignore me!'**

**'}:['**

**'Wait, don't put the phone in your pocket!'**

**'(O-O)'**

Just as I finished reading the last message another one appeared immediately.

**'So you stopped drooling at that woman and decided to come back to me?'**

**'(*-*)'**

**'Or are you still thinking about her large breasts?'**

I blinked at the message and couldn't help but voice my thoughts out loud. "What."

As soon as I finished my eloquent exclamation another message appeared.

**'Oi oi, don't break on me. Don't tell me you are one of /those/ players, are you?'**

**'(ノ º-º)ノ'**

**'Well, you almost died by "airplane to the face" but I'm sure you're fine now.'**

"Wha, how do you know that?" I said out loud without thinking. Can this guy hear me? Is it through the phone? Is he watching me?

**'Well, that is a GM secret. (-.^)'**

**'Still don't you want to hear what I have to say?'**

**'It's fine by me either way (¬ 3 ¬)'**

"What you have to say? What do you mean?"

**'Basically, to tell you what being a Dicer means'.**

**'So sit your big butt down and listen to the good old GM telling you the rules.'**

It took a few more messages but I finally got the full story of what I was now. Basically a Dicer is someone that can use special dice they find to improve themselves in all areas of both expertise and traits. Rolling the blue dice gives ownership over them and access to the 'points' rolled in order to enhance the Dicer according a special system.

The GM, which said I should call him 'X', was kind enough to provide me with my 'character sheet' and there was only one thing I could say about it.

"I suck!" I yelled when I saw my abilities and attributes. To be honest I wasn't expecting something better, having a low opinion about myself, but having this clear, brutal honest evaluation was heartbreaking.

The GM also provides 'quests' in order to grant Dicers more dice. Aside from the reassurance that every quest he gives will be within my power to perform he didn't give me any further details.

"But why am I in Italy out of all places instead of right at my home?" I asked slash demanded of this apparently omniscient watcher.

**'Hell if I know. =p''**

**'I don't really care about the lives of anyone before they become Dicers.'**

With a sigh I thought over what this all meant. By becoming the amusement tool for X and performing the quests, I could use those dice to improve myself and give a farewell to my previous, wasteful life. I would finally have power, and with power, agency.

This gave me hope, and a determination I was lacking all those years. Something inside me sparked, and right then and there I decided to change.

I would grab as much Dice as I could, no matter what!

"So X, what kind of quests do you have for me?"

**'Already? (oO)'**

**'Don't you want to clean up your head first or something?'**

"I'm already seriously thinking that this situation, which is beyond imagination, is real instead of me being out of my medication and that doesn't count the fact I survived death by airplane crash while on land. At this point I plan to go full throttle on this."

**'Alright then, I will see what I can give to you.'**

**'Get back to you in a second.'**

With this I put the phone back in my pocket and tried to find some more clothes for me. There wasn't anything else besides the drawer at the side of my room, and I had no other clothing. I also had no money, no documents, and if I'm in the same world as I was originally (you never know), all my documents where burned down so I couldn't even prove I exist!

I had to grit my teeth and take a deep breath before going back to the main room in order to beg for some more help from my rescuer. Or maybe not, while I don't have any documentation to prove I'm some kind of illegal immigrant, I also didn't have any proof I wasn't a native!

Now that's some insane troll logic right there. Maybe I really need help.

As I was about to put my hand on the doorknob I received a new message.

**'Feel the boobs of the woman in the next room. Quest reward: 5 dice.'**

**'Accept quest? Y/N'**

I accepted the quest without thinking, and just as I reread the quest my face heated up.

Goddamn it!

Taking a deep breath to calm myself I decided to just go along with it for now. Maybe I will luck out and have her passed out on the bed. No, no, that might actually end up worse for entirely different reasons!

Just opening the door I found the woman from before, Lucretia, still sipping at her wine. There were another two bottles laying empty on the floor and she was still going strong.

Quickly a harebrained scheme formed in my head, my face still red, but I felt I need to do this as the first step of my new life. Didn't I swear before to acquire dice at all costs, to be different, to finally gain agency?

How could I go back on my decision not even a whole minute later? It's so pathetic I couldn't even move. Actually I couldn't move because I had cold feet, but it's the thought that counts.

And here I go again to the excuses I always used to perform. Not this time, this time I'm going along with it. Even if the consequences will damn me later it's better than standing still doing nothing!

Walking down the stairs slowly I felt my heartbeat spike until I could feel it in my throat. Walking slowly to her side I enacted my master plan!

"Hey, do y-" and with this half-word I did my best to 'accidentally' fall. Later I would agree it was the least accidental looking trip I ever made, but the trip itself was genuine so I could mask it during the heat of the moment.

While tripping I threw my arms forwards, and for a single instant I could feel the mounts of my prize. I also saw her spilling most of her wine on my head, but that was alright in my book. So long as I managed to get out of this situation.

From my prone position I looked up, but before I could see anything I felt my neck being held by an oddly soft stone grip.

"Oh my, is the inside of my dress that fascinating to you?"

I didn't understand what she was saying and looked up, and what I saw…

"Gah!" I tried to shake myself away but she was holding me in a iron grip making me unable to move, coincidentally also unable to properly breathe. It was when I felt a soft mount that the deadly grip loosened enough for me to stand up.

It felt like a long moment when I realized the position I was in. My right hand grabbing her breast while her skirt was upwards to show everyone the same thing I saw. My mind grinded to a halt and I was about to apologize when I accidentally tripped on the bottle of wine on the ground, hitting my back on the table and somehow kicking myself backwards to land face first on the carpet.

Then I remembered what I just did.

Standing up with(?) lightning reflexes I took a few steps back, not really believing what I did. "I, ah, I mean…"

I did the only thing available to me at the time.

I cowardly ran away upstairs to the protests of my host.

Back at the room I took several deep calming breaths of dubious utility before I took out the phone. "I did the damn quest, now where's the dice?"

**'Are you sure? It felt more like a "grab" than a feel to me.'**

**'But whatever, I'm feeling magnanimous today. Aren't I the best GM ever?'**

With this last message a bright flash appeared on the ground, and five blue dice where there for me to pick up. I took no time in crouching and rolling them out to claim ownership of them.

A 28, what a lucky haul! Nice!

Just as I was about to sigh in relief I heard a few light knocks outside. "Ryuan dear, could you come outside for a moment?"

A chill ran through my spine, the tone sending warning signals all over myself.

Another message came.

**'Take your punishment like a man. Quest reward 1 dice.'**

**'Bonus dice: get out smelling like roses. Bonus reward 1 dice.'**

**'Accept Quest? Y/N'**

I wasn't sure if I wanted to murder X or thank him when I accepted that last quest.

~~O~~

Sitting on the couch I felt like a cow before the slaughter. I was already seasoned with some red wine!

"So, care to explain to me why some of my anti-communication wards keep pinging an interference?"

I blinked once, not really understanding the request before remembering she'd told me she's a witch. Considering I decided to call the dice real and run along with it then I also should go along with her claims to be a witch. With that in mind it becomes obvious what she's talking about.

"I'm receiving messages from someone who claims to know me more than I do myself..." With that disgustingly accurate and depressing character sheet he's certainly an expert about me. "He claimed he could help me."

She stared at me, hard, before pacing in front of me. I kept looking at the ground for various reasons, the biggest of them fear of what she wants to do with me. Once she stopped pacing came the piercing question. "Can you tell me how you are getting those messages?"

I debated internally and cursed myself for my lack of forethought, I could have simply erased the messages myself but I doubt I will have the time right now. "I'm… sworn to secrecy. I can't tell about my benefactor to outsiders."

Which was true, being part of the rules he gave me. Just as he defends the privacy of other players, whoever they are if they even exist in the world, I'm also required to defend myself on those matters.

There's also the fact I don't want to share the information of X's existence to anyone else before I can defend myself. I'm also not sure if his messages and surveillance system is tied to the smartphone I found alongside the dice, so the less I expose him the better.

"If that's the case I see no other choice but kick you out of here, you're already fine after all."

At this I froze. Going away out into Italy without the means to survive, without identification and certainly without money or food, that's basically handing me a death sentence. Well, not exactly but close.

"I can show you what I used to contact him! If I can erase the messages first you can check what I'm using to talk with him."

Again with the stare, but this time I held my ground without shaking much. "Alright, show me."

I took the cellphone and quickly erased all the messages except for one that certainly came from him and was innocent enough. She briskly took the device from my hand after I was done before she started to mutter some words over the phone.

"Looks like a simple cellphone to me." She said after a while, not the least pleased. "Where did you get this?"

"It was on the side of the drawer in the room when I woke up." Again she looked at me, this time coming closer and muttering a few other words.

"No magical talent… I guess you aren't the direct source of those pings. I will ask you to stop using this cellphone if you want to remain in this house."

I nodded, looking for a means to keep the cellphone and not being thrown out at least without a meal. "If I talk with my benefactor outside your house, is that alright?"

"And why would you want to stay in the house?" She demanded icily. To be honest I had no good reason to stay here other than 'I don't want to starve off in the streets', but that's not a good enough reason for her considering we're complete strangers. Still I had to try instead of simply giving up, instead of acting like I had always been.

"To be honest I'm completely lost. I'm in another country so I'm an illegal immigrant by default, I have no documents, no money and nowhere to go. To be frank I was hoping to remain under your mercy at least for a few days, but if you wish for me to go then there's nothing I can do other than to thank you for saving me."

I'm not sure if that counts as persuasion, but I continued all the same.

"I also caused that ruckus before, and I'd rather try to rectify my blunder early."

At this she changed her expression into something resembling the playfulness of a cat. "Like feeling me up? More like a grab certainly, but all the same you came closer than many men would die for."

I gulped, not really liking where this was going on.

"If you're so interested I can give you some work around here to pay back your debt to me. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great," I replied instantly and just as immediately regretting being so eager when I saw her smile getting wider.

"Fantastic! It's been a while since I had a butler, I hope we can work together wonderfully!"

I gulped before I weighted the pros and cons of going out in the wilderness against staying, and my co- sense of self preservation talked louder this time. Hopefully I won't regret this.

* * *

><p><strong>Updated 28/2014**


	2. Chapter 2

Looking at the latest dice in my hand I couldn't help but grin. Even if my life has turned upside down I'm a few steps towards a new, improved life. Rolling the dice I got earlier it landed on a small 3, but I can't really complain.

After taking the instructions from Lucretia I couldn't help but frown inside. At my current abilities I will keep messing up or severely underperform. I doubt she will put up with a mess up of a butler whose only worth is unskilled labor. With a sigh I decided to use some of the gathered dice to improve myself before I started working.

"X, I need to become better at the tasks set out for me. How do I do that?"

**'Well, you can ask me to improve your abilities or attributes, or even get a specialty in cleaning?'**

**'It's up to you. The way you can do that is the same as you did right now, just ask me to improve something about yourself.'**

So not only I need X to gain more dice, but I need him to improve my abilities? Good to know that now.

Taking a look at my 'character sheet' I knew what I need to do right now. With a deep breath I asked X to improve myself.

_Dexterity 2 - 3: 8xp_

_Dexterity 3 - 4: 12xp_

_Craft 0 - 1: 3xp_

_Craft 1 - 2: 2xp_

_Craft 2 - 3: 4xp_

_(Wood, Water, Earth)_

_Temperance 1 - 2: 3xp_

Just as I asked for those traits to rise something inside me changed, knowledge pouring inside my head on how to perform several kinds of abilities and tasks. Somehow I was aware that my expertise went further ahead than simple tasks like 'cooking' or 'distilling poisons' or 'tending the garden' or even 'cleaning'.

"What was that X?"

**'Didn't you know? Those abilities have a wider application than simple skills. Things like oratory or dancing or cooking, but your default character sheet has those wider abilities that are all encompassing.'**

**'It does give you the illusion about sucking at everything for the average person, however.'**

That… sort of makes sense. So I went from a form that gave me 'skills' and now I use 'abilities' instead, which are much better in the long run. Considering I can still buy specialties, that's not bad, not bad at all.

With that in mind, I started to walk back to the house, ready to put my first step on my new life.

~~O~~

Getting back to the house I found it empty save for a single piece of paper.

_'Hi Ryuan, I'm sorry I had to go without telling you but I had an emergency to solve. Anyway you can start by cleaning the house until I'm back. Alongside this note there's a uniform I believe will fit you perfectly. You should wear it while cleaning the house. Stay away from my personal library! It's the only locked room anyway._

_Ciao!_

_Lucretia Zola, your new m- employer'_

Looking down I saw my new uniform which included a white shirt, cufflinks, white gloves, a butler's tie and more. Thinking on the irony of wishing for more agency while preparing to dress like a servant I went ahead to change and perform my duties.

It took me a good three hours to completely clean everything, but my new patience helped me concentrate myself on my task without distractions. Looking back while cleaning I had also found another note.

'Why don't you try and prepare dinner afterwards? The fridge is stocked and you can make anything you wish. If you do well I might employ you as a cook too.'

Looking around I found a few high quality ingredients so I decided to prepare a chicken with potatoes in the oven, preparing some stewed vegetables, rice and black beans. Setting myself to work I started chopping and peeling the potatoes, cutting the chicken into smaller parts and preparing the right seasonings.

She didn't have the specific seasoning I'm used but she had something close. Combining it with a few dry herbs I found inside the pantry I managed to make something good enough.

I was cleaning everything when the door of her house opened and I saw a very tired Lucretia coming in. "What smells nice?" She asks while flopping herself on the couch.

"Dinner, just something simple for today."

"Aw, anything at this point will feel like a feast. Those old, crazy bastards are playing with fire and have the guts to demand me, ME out of all people, to act like an immature apprentice and toy with power beyond mortal understanding."

"I wonder where that came from," I deadpanned, looking at the woman sprawled on the couch in the most undignified manner possible, a glass of wine at the feet of the furniture and her drinking directly from the bottle.

"Shush you, and weren't you preparing dinner?" Nodding back at her I went towards the kitchen, and noting that it was already done. I almost yelled for her to come, but instead turned back to tell her. Just as I did that she was already turned upside down on the couch, the first wine bottle at the feet of the couch and a second one being downed at incredible speed.

"Dinner's ready." She woke up lazily from the ground and went to the table to eat, sniffing the food first. Taking a fork she took a few bites of everything before starting to eat at a more rapid pace, giving me a thumbs up at the end.

"Nice job!" She said while my face reddened.

"I was inspired today, I doubt I can repeat this quality of food often."

"Even if it's once in a while it's better than nothing," she said with a wink. "Say, do you drive?"

"... no, I never went for a license."

Tapping the side of her lip, she frowned. "You will need to go to the city for groceries and any small tasks I hand you. Oh well, it can wait until I make you some fake ID."

I blinked at her choice of words. "You can do that?"

"The perks of being the 'strongest witch on earth' is that I know which people to go to and how much arm twisting I can get away with."

"Hah…"

"Anyway, the cleaning was also done to an acceptable degree so I can say your trial time is done. Congratulations on your new job!"

"Uh, thanks? I just hope I can repay you for your kindness eventually."

"Oh, don't you worry." She said with a sultry tone. "There will be plenty of time for you to repay me~"

Looking left and right I coughed a bit. "Uhn well, if you don't need me I will be off." With that I boldly retreated to the safety of the kitchen.

What manner of trouble I put myself into?

~~O~~

The next few days were hectic for me considering I had to juggle questing with my duties at the house. I also felt that X was being rather stingy with his quests, giving between one and two quests per day at a low dice rate.

For example the first day after being employed I had to 'clean everything with only my left hand before Lucretia came back'. I put my everything and all my focus on this quest since it was one with an incredible three dice reward.

At the end of the day I was panting with exertion in order to perform the task to an acceptable degree, by Lucretia's standards, and getting three new dice that day.

This was the 'toughest' quest so far, with the rest being simple shores or small pranks, like stealing one of my employer's bras (a misplaced laundry took care to avoid any misunderstandings) or leaving the toilet seat open after using it three times consecutively. All in all I managed to get ten dice this week, which I rolled immediately after acquiring them and getting a total of 35 dice points.

In total an average roll, leaving me thinking on what to improve next. Considering the nature of my abilities and the dependency on X for quests and dice, the chance of me avoiding direct violent conflict is next to none. Either by my quest involving violence in some manner or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time due to questing.

Sighing I also pondered my other dilemma, namely telling Lucretia about the dice. Considering she's a 'witch' it's possible she can help me determine what they are made of and what I'm actually made of as well. One part of me wanted to ask her but another, more vile, part wanted to keep the secret of X and the dice away from anyone else a little longer.

After all it's stupidly easy to become a dicer. According to X all it takes is to roll a blue, unclaimed, die and X will congratulate his new player (I suppose he congratulates those without cellphones eventually). I wanted to guard that information for myself for as long as I could, partly to protect myself.

I wonder how strong I must become before escaping those traitorous thoughts, or how much more smart I need to be to properly think things through and not fall in those old pitfalls.

~~O~~

_Perception 1 - 2: 4xp_

_Perception 2 - 3: 8xp_

_Wits 2 - 3: 8xp_

_Martial Arts 0 - 1: 3xp_

_Martial Arts 1 - 2: 2xp_

_Linguistics 0 - 1: 3xp_

_(Romantic)_

_Ride 0 - 1: 3xp_

_Socialize 0 - 1: 3xp_

I decided to spend some of the points accumulated this week on abilities and attributes I found useful for now, before going down to continue my duties at the house. No rest for the wicked I'm afraid.

As I descended the stairs from 'my' room I saw Lucretia entertaining a few guests, her always present smile changing into a frown as the conversation went on.

"... Voban's influence is spreading once more. We need a Campione on our side that can be better controlled, or at least have his head straight! Black Prince Alec won't move unless Lord Voban steps on his toes and the less said about Lady Luo Hao the better."

Lucretia tone was ice cold in return. "And your wish to summon a Heretic God and hope one of your prepared knights kill it is any better?"

"We have some of the strongest Knights gathered, their power easily the highest in the world save the Campione themselves. Besides we wish to summon an Heretic God without martial legend to make things easier to handle."

"There's nothing easy about a Heretic God!"

The rage of my employer reached such a turning point that her face twisted to become a visage of pure wrath, making me fall down from the step I was on. I wasn't the only one affected however, the two other guests falling down from their seats.

It was too much to hope for them to ignore me by concentrating on their own reactions, but from the couch there's a plain view of the stairs where I was sprawled over. One of the guests, a man wearing a black set of formal wear, pointed at me. "Who are you? How long have you been listening?"

"Oh", Lucretia face's changed immediately to something more amiable. "he's just my new servant. He doesn't speak Italian..." At this remark she narrowed her eyes. "Do you?"

I gulped before averting my eyes, earning a long 'hmm~m' in reply. What a wonderful way to introduce my new abilities, and what an incredible idea it was to buy instant, all encompassing language understanding. Go me!

"Anyway, he already knows most of the details about some old fools asking me to toy with forces beyond mortal understanding."

Ah, that. With the mention of Heretic Gods, Campione and people 'less said about' I thought it was another problem involving forces beyond mortal understanding. Oh well, not really my problem.

Time to go back to work and all that shit. Ignoring the two guests that are likely too dumb to live because they were angering her, I went back to my duties without a second thought. I tuned out the conversation as I went to do the laundry of the day and after that I started cleaning proper.

It didn't last long since I could hear their conversation and was a bit curious as to what they were talking about. As I went through the house I could get bits and pieces of the conversation.

"... with the aid some of your grimoires it will become easier to perform this task. We can arrange to transport them to a secure location. We can also ask you to verify the authenticity of some artifacts..."

While asking for forgiveness I cleaned a bit of the floor, not minding the guests or my employer. With a quick look at her she just shrugged and put her feet up.

"My prized possessions are not for rent like a car! Besides..."

A pass and swish later I'm back trying to clear the furniture of dust.

"... please be reasonable." Pleaded the too-dumb-to-live guest. Doesn't he ever learn? Of course not, if he did he wouldn't be too-dumb-to-live.

"Stop listening in you uncouth plebian!"

What? The last one was a bit different. Turning around I saw one of the other guests right at my face glaring at me.

"Don't you see it's an important meeting? Or are you being an impertinent moron on purpose."

"... I'm sorry?" I said while looking at Lucretia, and again she just shrugged her shoulders. Looking back at the angry man I tried once more. "I won't do it again?"

"Damn you little-" he started, but was interrupted by the coughing of Lucretia.

"Sorry, he's new to the job and isn't properly trained as a butler yet, even if he usually perform his duties without problems."

"He's clearly not trained," he said dryly before looking back at my employer to get back at the conversation.

"I think the conversation is over," I said before I could properly think. "For a while you three have been rehashing the same arguments over and over, and L- mistress Lucretia clearly wants no part in your harebrained scheme."

Both men started to look angry, the one right in front of me starting to redden. "Harebrained…"

"What else would you call invoking a god in order to kill it and hoping everything will go according to plan? I'm not an expert in those matters, hell I only heard about the term Heretic God today and even I know this has disaster written all over it. It's such an absurd action that it's right next to making a plan that has step one: reach enlightenment."

"Now wait here," again he was interrupted by Lucretia with a polite cough.

"What my poor mannered servant is trying to say is that I grow tired of these incessant pleas of yours. Even considering your stations it should be considered a boon for you two to even come to my house and be listened to. Until you have a better course of action that doesn't involve making me being part of summoning a Heretic God, this discussion is over."

Both men opened their mouths to start to argue but she simply pointed her finger toward outside. "The exit is that way."

As they stood up to leave both men glared daggers towards me, hoping to curse me through gaze alone but fortunately staying away from the real deal. When both men were fully out of the vicinity of the residence, Lucretia started to laugh almost hysterically.

It took her a few minutes before she managed to let out everything from her system. I also waited right then and there as something, probably my often ignored survival instinct, told to not wander away until she's done talking with me.

"Ahh~ that was a good laugh. I wanted to tell them off like you did for a lo~ng time." With a few more breaths she was fully recollected. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome," I said relaxing a little before her own posture straightened and I found myself becoming smaller under her gaze.

"But you shouldn't try to speak for me, using my authority as if it's yours when it clearly isn't. I am clear enough with that?" For an instant her eyes where blazing with literal fire, and I gulped and nodded.

"C-crystal."

She nodded before getting out. "I also want you to do something as your punishment. Please wait there." With this she went away to her room.

A few minutes later she came with a-

"Please tell me you're joking." I deadpanned.

"I am, and you are the punch line." She replied with a giggle.

In front of her, there was a full maid uniform roughly in my size, complete with that weird head piece. Just as I was about to object a message rang on my cellphone, making Lucretia's right eye twitch a bit. "Uh, just a moment please."

**'Ask to use the undergarment too. Quest reward 2 dice.'**

**'Bonus Dice: Wear the undergarment for a full day. Bonus Reward: 2 dice.'**

**'Accept Quest? Y/N'**

I had accepted the quest without thinking, again, and only afterwards I realized what I had done.

"... do you have undergarments to go with that?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Damn you X. Damn you to hell.

~~O~~

The latest quest only gave around 8 new dice points, which was quite the let down.

That was an awful day to say the least. The undergarments were uncomfortable and Lucretia spent a good deal of time teaching me certain 'proper attitudes' a maid should know. The worst part was that I took to the lessons rather well, my dice expenditure showing it's fruits.

Speaking of dice and X, Lucretia extended the maid uniform punishment to a full month since she'd caught me talking with my benefactor inside the boundaries of the house. The fact I couldn't control when he called didn't persuade her in the slightest. Then again, according to my character sheet my chances of persuading someone are abysmally low.

"Sorry X," I said at night while outside the house. "but if I keep the phone on inside the house I will be punished."

**'But don't you want quests? I might give you quests at any time and if you can't perform them they count as automatic failures.'**

**'Don't you want dice?'**

I took a deep breath before thinking things over. Certainly I want dice, but for now I'm a guest to Lucretia and I must abide by her rules at the moment. Still, the dice…

"I will see what I can do."

The next week X was even more stingy than the previous, giving me only half the dice as the week before, but still being 'nice' enough to grant me at least one quest when I went outside to ask him for some. While thanking him, I couldn't help but be suspicious of his compliance to the situation.

Out of those quests, the most memorable was to switch sugar with salt and vice-versa on the dinner I was about to prepare, with a bonus if the meal ended up edible. Carefully thinking things over I set to work, trying and testing flavors on the fly in hopes to not poison my employer.

The finished product was at an acceptable level if not nearly on par with my usual, but I gained a few points for the different taste I put forward that day.

Thus the first week of my punishment was rather unmemorable, granting me a total of 20 dice points, slight above average.

~~O~~

"I want you to go and buy groceries for the pantry." She pulled from her dress a set of keys. "I will most likely be away when you return so open the door yourself." Before I could take the keys she pulled back to herself, face and tone serious. "Protect those keys with your life."

I nodded, a shiver running down my spine. Somehow I didn't think she was being overly dramatic.

It was also a good thing I only mentioned to her my lack of license instead of inability to drive since she had gotten part of my new identification made with the driver's license, complete with photo (when did she take it?). It was also a good thing since I had bought the necessary ability with my dice.

While driving towards the city using a map provided by Lucretia I couldn't help but ponder the last thing she said to me, 'protect those keys with your life'. I shuddered at what it might imply, and I hoped against hope for her to be joking.

Knowing my luck she was dead serious, and I would have to deal with robbers or worse. Swallowing the lump forming inside my throat, I took the cellphone. I needed some form of insurance in case things went horribly wrong and I wanted to spend my dice toward those purposes anyway.

_Dexterity 4 - 5: 16xp_

_Martial Arts 2 - 3: 4xp_

_Martial Arts - Unarmed 0 - 1: 3xp_

_Martial Arts - Unarmed 1 - 2: 3xp_

That should do for now. Looking at my expenditure, however, I couldn't help but wish deep down that something extraordinary happened. Of course, I'm sure that wish will come back to haunt me very soon.

Damn it! I can't wish for a more exciting life and hope that nothing happens. Bad habits don't die easily, or perhaps I'm creating a new bad habit right now?

~~O~~

"It's been a while since we could talk X," I typed on the cellphone. It'd been two days since I discovered I could talk with him purely through messages, which was a more discreet if slower method to communicate.

**'So it is. :/'**

"Oh come on, are you still annoyed by me turning off the phone while inside Lucretia's house?"

**'It's always the same with you players. :/'**

**'"Give me more quests X" or "can't you give me more dice X"'**

**'You never ask about the wishes of the GM.'**

**' :'( '**

"I also remember you answering any questions I had about you with 'classified', 'secret' and the always wonderful 'you'd like to know, don't you '".

**'Everybody's a critic.'**

"Well, if you don't want to talk about yourself let's talk about me then, or more explicitly my limitations, if I have them and how do they work. I know I can buy specializations, but how does that work? Aside from a cap to the amount of points I can raise in an ability or attribute, what else is restricted?"

**'There it is again! With you players it's always me, me, me!'**

**'But I'm going to answer because I'm a nice GM.'**

**'Praise me! Worship me! Dance for me!'**

**'Kidding! '**

**'Anyway you are restricted to four specializations for each ability, and considering that the abilities are all encompassing and already take into account your specialization it means that buying a specialization is a way to break the natural cap of your ability. I think that's a good enough trade off.'**

Instinctively I knew he was right. As of now I felt like being one of the greatest martial artists in the world even if I was sure my potential could grow a little bit more when I truly reached mastery of the ability.

**'As for the caps in your abilities they are there because otherwise your body wouldn't be able to take it.'**

"Are there ways to break through those limits? After all it's where the blatant supernatural abilities come from, right? Being supernaturally good at martial arts or crafts, or is there a different system for that?"

**'It depends. I'm not going to lie to you, breaking through those caps is a hell of tough job for you but the possibility exists.'**

"I see. I wanted to ask something else, too. Can I use magic? If I can, what are the prerequisites for using it?"

**'Now that would be telling :3 ! Besides, don't you have the strongest witch on earth to help you with magic?'**

"I was thinking more about the 'occult' ability I have and that mysterious trait that apparently has no clear use but is listed anyway. Essence."

**'Oh, you found that out. Bravo! You can read a piece of electronic paper!'**

**'ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ'**

Cheeky bastard. "And what does it do?"

**'Something rea~lly special.'**

"It's my magical trait isn't it?" I deadpanned loudly this time. "Which appears to be locked, somehow. Why?"

**'Way to spoil a surprise (- 3 -).'**

**'You could say it's your magical trait, and yes at the current time it's locked.'**

**'As for why, let me ask you something. Do you think everyone is made equal?'**

What an odd question to ask. "Usually I would answer yes, but that's not right is it?"

**'Yes, or perhaps maybe. If you're into religion and omnipotent/omniscient almighty god then an ant is as relevant as an elephant to this god.'**

**'But on a more base level people are different from each other, with various talents and flaws that make them unique.'**

I nodded idly, knowing that full well. Some people were simply too 'gifted' with talent, looks and even stronger ideals or virtues, while others simply couldn't compare with them.

**'Essence is one such ability. It takes a certain natural talent to be able to use it, though you can unlock your potential with decades of training on average.'**

**'That's the norm of course, but you dicers can cheat that rule.'**

**'Isn't it wonderful?'**

"Yeah, yeah it is," I agreed with him. "There's something that doesn't add up however. When I want to improve myself with the dice I can sort of 'feel' my abilities and attributes and how much of the dice points accumulated I need to expend, even for abilities that I don't plan to buy yet. All except for Essence, why is that?"

**'For Essence you need something a little different than normal dice.'**

**'A Special Die, if you will.'**

**'But that's talk for another day. You are still far too green to even hear about the Special Dice, let alone perform a quest to acquire one. Besides, aren't you supposed to buy groceries? Why are you sitting in the car right now?'**

Looking at my borrowed watch I saw that X was right, and I did what I was dreading since arriving at the small city.

I got out of the car in my full maid outfit glory.

~~O~~

"Here's your change", said the woman at the cashier trying not to stare too much. I took the change and the groceries with a grunt before walking back to where I parked the car.

At first I was almost dying of embarrassment, but since the few people walking on the streets at this hour accepted my existence with elegance it wasn't nearly as bad, and when I say 'accepted with elegance' I mean they only pointed at me and whispered, some of them giving me looks of disgust while I walked.

I walked as if at any moment I would be arrested. Of what I'm not sure, but the fear was there, and I wasn't sure of what I was more embarrassed at the time, if it was my ridiculous outfit or the fact that taking even a single step outside felt like the hardest chore I had ever done before. I wanted to hide and never be seen again, until I reached an epitaph in my downward spiral.

Nobody knew me. I had no friends. No family. No history.

In a sense that liberated me to become more calm and help complete the task. I took a deep breath and started to walk while ignoring the other people on the street as if nothing mattered anymore, and in a sense that was close to the truth.

For me nothing mattered much anymore save perhaps...

I felt the cellphone in my pocket and remembered the dice I gathered. Yes, aside from dice few things in this world matter to me anymore. If I think things through this whole experience I'm having sounds more like I'm stuck in a coma after miraculously surviving the airplane crash or... I stopped and took another deep breath. Theorizing about the truth of my current circumstances these last few days always leads to unpleasant thoughts so I stopped before getting worse.

With the groceries in my arms I went back to the car when I received another message from X. Struggling with the groceries I pulled out the cellphone with my free hand to see what quest he would provide me.

**'Provoke the two suspicious looking guys to a fight. Quest reward: 10 dice.'**

**'Bonus: Win the fight without taking any injury. Bonus reward: 5 dice.'**

My mind immediately ground to a halt just before I would accept the quest, unlike how normally I would immediately take it without thinking.

What? Who? What suspicious people? Turning around I saw two shady looking guys at a darker corner on the street, nobody else fitting the description nearby. Gulping I looked at the quest for a while, thinking on all the dice I might gain, but my survival instinct kicked in right away.

What if those guys were armed, either with melee weapons or firearms? This quest is certainly more dangerous than the others, if only because the reward is better than I had seen in a while.

Thinking it through I couldn't just fight with the groceries on my person so I started to walk away without accepting or declining the quest before another call came from the phone. Another message from X.

**'Aren't you going to accept that quest?'**

**'It gives a lot of dice and is simple in execution, you even get a lot of dice if you perform exceptionally well.'**

**'Oh! Maybe you're developing cold feet?**_'_

"Shut up." I said while looking at the cellphone in front of me, and immediately I got another message.

**'Oh my, you really are developing cold feet.'**

**'Boy this is pathetic. Shouldn't you be more concerned with dice like a proper player should?'**

**'Or are you afraid of the consequences of your actions?'**

**'Or are you scared to get hurt?'**

**'You big bad master martial artist.'**

"Shut. Up." I said through gritted teeth with the groceries still in my hands. Pocketing the cellphone I restarted the walk towards my previous destination, placing the groceries into the car and sitting in the driver's seat.

Just as I did that another message came from X.

**'Well, if you don't want to perform the quest then just decline it, don't hang up on me.'**

**'Though I wonder why you're so scared of a little scuffle.'**

**'Or perhaps you don't want anymore dice?'**

**'Are you already content with how you are? After just a few quests done?'**

**'You didn't even improve your appearance or intelligence to the max.'**

**'What a disappointment.'**

**'Perhaps giving you dice in the first place was a mistake.'**

I gripped the cellphone in my hands, and I wished I could throw it away to shut up X, but I stayed my hand. He's right in a sense, I'm too scared to commit to a plan of action.

I want the dice, but I'm too scared to enter into conflict with those guys.

I want to go away, but the temptation of that many dice in one go is holding me up.

Didn't I want to change? Earn dice at all costs? Yet here I am unable to decide if I should risk it or run away. In a sense I knew that my ultimate response was to run away if I freeze like this, just like many times before.

Looking back at the phone, I scrolled up back to the quest prompt message.

"I guess you're right X, that's really pathetic." I said holding the cellphone in front of me. "And I want to stop being so pathetic."

I accepted the quest and promptly went outside to meet my destiny. It didn't take long for me to see the two suspicious men, and clenching my fist to steel my resolve I pointed in their direction.

"Hey you two!" I yelled, catching their attention. "Do you think it's funny? Do you think I'm funny?" I yelled while pointing at myself. "Do you think it's funny to see a grown man wearing a maid's outfit, do you?"

One of the guys turned to me, and as if looking at me for the first time they started laughing, loudly. I let them continue while closing the distance from them step by step, trying to look intimidating but clearly I was failing pretty hard at that task.

That's fine for now I just need them to be occupied for a little more, let them laugh some more at the dumbass wearing a dress. I managed to come close enough to hit them in the face if I dashed forwards. Maybe they also realized it too and looked back at me, their faces still holding some of the mirth. "Yeah, you look pretty damn funny you creepy fag."

"Come and say that to my face then you ass licking moron."

One of then calmly came towards me, getting within centimeters in my face. "You are. A funny looking. Creepy Fag." He said while lightly slapping my face without force.

That was my breaking point.

Twisting myself within the small space I had it was still good enough to land a solid and well placed kick, sending him stumbling a few paces back. The fight was on!

Taking the initiative I charged at the guy I had already beaten up, intending to keep up the pressure of my attacks. With a jump I landed my first kick into his diaphragm making him double over and with a backward twist I gave him a last attack to his jaw, which knocked him to the ground dizzy and gasping from my onslaught.

The other guy tried to take something from his coat, a glint of light showing it was a gun. He managed to shoot at me, hitting me in the shoulder and drawing a strangled scream of pain, but I had too much adrenaline in my body to stop. Ignoring the fallen thug I charged towards the guy with the gun, he brought it up to shoot once more, but I was faster than him this time. Once more my feet lashed out, this time striking his knee cap before going straight at his face. The attacks stunned him, his gun dropping from his grasp as his hands reflexively raised up to protect his face, leaving him complete unarmed.

The first thug I had knocked down was too badly wounded to be of much use, probably suffering a concussion from my kick to his head, as he tried to draw his own gun from an inner coat pocket. I had to defeat these two immediately. I followed that thought by charging at the one still standing as he turned to try and open some distance, or perhaps he was just running, but I performed a flying kick to his retreating back before a follow up snap kick slammed his head onto the pavement, instantly knocking him out cold.

The other thug finally managed to draw his own gun and shot in my direction but thankfully missed by several meters. In response I kicked his face hard, finishing him off. At this point a biting pain in my shoulder reminded me about it's status, but I was too high on adrenaline to care. I started walking back to the car in order to improvise some bandages and get the hell out of the city as quickly as I could.

Pocketing the dice that appeared to roll later, I hoped Lucretia won't mind too much about the new hole in the outfit she loaned me. My abilities I had raised from before already showed me several ways to wash the blood out, but sewing it back up would require access to materials I didn't have on hand.

Absently I thought that healing my bullet wound would be nice too.

~~O~~

*SLAP*

"OUCH! That was uncalled for!" I yelled as she slapped the wound after extracting the bullet with a spell. Nothing too fancy-looking but impressive nonetheless, a few words muttered silently and with her finger, which glowed with a dim light, she drew a circle around the wound. The bullet and bullet fragments fell from the wound exit.

"What in all the hells in the Underworld were you thinking?"

It didn't take much after I came inside for her to start probing me with questions, at first incredibly concerned about my well-being, but under her questioning I let things slip. Like the fact I had started the fight in the first place.

Under her inquiring gaze I felt the last shreds of my willpower melt away, so I confessed about starting the fight after hearing those thugs laughing at me.

That didn't go over well with her.

"I'm sorry." I answered back before she could come back from the kitchen. There was an awful smell coming from it and I hoped that whatever it was I wasn't going to have to clean it. It didn't take long for Lucretia to come back with a vial full of an awful-smelling concoction, which she crushed a few leaves into before the color of the, hopefully, medicine changed from a transparent collor to a reddish one.

"Drink in a single go", she commanded and I took the vial.

That THING tasted like, tasted like the worst drink I ever had, burning my throat while I swallowed it. "Couldn't this taste better?" I asked immediatelly after finishing swallowing it.

"It could, like it could hurt less when it heals you, but I figured that can be the punishment for you acting like a moron."

I was about to inquire about the 'hurt' part when suddenly my shoulder started burning, and I felt bones and muscles creaking and mending, a hot sensation burning at my skin. It felt horrible, the nerves around my shoulder and arm flaring all at once and locking my arm with pain.

Then suddenly as it came it was over, just a bit of ghost pain still lingering around the now sealed and healed wound. Now there was just a little, almost imperceptible dot as evidence of my foolishness, and I generally felt much better than before.

All would be perfect if it weren't for the glare she was sending me afterwards. "Now, explain yourself."

"I'm, I'm sorry?" I tried, which earned a frown, "I wasn't thinking when I started the fight. I just got so angry, I only wanted one thing at the time, to beat them up with my own hands."

She put her hand towards my face and involuntarily I flinched, before she pulled my ear hard. "I don't want to patch up a moron, so don't do this ever again, do you understand?"

"Crystal".

~~O~~

I had rolled the dice, getting a nice 34 points, while coming back to Lucretia's home and I managed to hide them inside my pockets. Finally able to catch my breath I placed the dice on the drawer, remembering I rolled average.

Looking at my 'character sheet' I found something odd on it. I'm not sure if I had intimancies before, but perhaps I simply didn't noticed them before.

Sighing I sprawled myself on the bed, remembering my situation.

I'm living on Lucretia's favor after surviving a plane crash on the ground. I'm currently in Italy without documents or money. Oh, and I will have to wear a maid uniform for three more weeks.

And magic is real, go figure.

I need a plan of action since I don't want to impose much more on Lucretia if I can help it. After burning a bit of goodwill with my foolish grab for dice I'm already on thin ice with her. I can stay for a bit longer, but after I get my documents I should try and get my own place.

My own place in the world, hopefully.

I wonder where I will go from now on.

* * *

><p><strong>Updated 228/2014**


	3. Chapter 3

Three weeks passed by in a blur and I continued with my current job and general questing, with a few bumps. For example one of the quests assigned from X was to 'slap that woman's butt'. Like I'm going to do that to someone who sheltered me and is currently helping me set an identity, let alone giving me a job (uniform aside).

Because of such quests I dropped the amount of dice I got to a third than before, but after three weeks I managed to get a respectable amount anyway, totaling 65.

~~O~~

A few days after I got out of the damned outfit Lucretia called me to talk. She had assembled my necessary documentation in order to legally exist.

"With this," she said while I flipped through my new identification, "you can even buy a house, and your passport should allow you to go anywhere in Europe without problems."

I bowed slightly in gratitude. "I don't know how to repay you. You gave me food and board, even healed my injuries leaving practically no sign of them ever being there, and now you help me restart my life."

She just waved me off. "Don't worry too much about it. What I want to know is, what do you plan to do from now on? Are you going to travel, or do you plan to keep working for me? You're welcome to stay as my servant as long as you wish."

I sighed, having known this time would come. "To be honest I wanted to take this as an opportunity to travel, find myself and see what I want in life. Before I was too comfortable with my situation, too risk averse. Now I want to see more, risk more, live more."

"I think I can understand that", she said with a nod of her own, "I can give you one month's pay for that, it might not be too much but it should allow you to get yourself started on your path."

"Thank you," I bowed once more, "I really don't know what would have happened to me if it weren't for you, and I have no idea on how to pay you back, other than owing you a favor."

"I will take your word for it," she replied with a smile, "But there is something you could do for me right now that would help mitigate your guilt."

Suddenly her tone became serious, and she stared deeply into my eyes. "You've been talking with your benefactor for a while now, and he's someone that can pierce the defenses of my house easily. I want to know more about him, what he does and what your involvement with this mysterious entity is."

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what was to come. I knew she would want to know more about X, and touching him would invariably get into the Dice. I couldn't avoid this conversation anymore.

"My benefactor is called X, and beyond that I have no more information about he or it's motives, but I do know what he does." Placing a red Dice on the table I continue. "Those that find and roll a Dice like this one becomes Dicers, which we use to enhance ourselves. Of course a die or two won't make you that much better, that's where X come in, asking for Quests for me to do in return for Dice."

She looks at the red dice on the table, picking it up. Looking back and forth between me and the dice she started chanting a few words in Latin, something about 'reveal it's essence to me' except much more flowery. Frowning, she did it again before placing the dice back on the table.

"I could find faint traces of magic, but nothing too drastic. Are you sure this dice can perform what you claim?"

I nodded. "This is a 'spent' die, its power was already given to me. If you roll it yourself you won't become a Dicer. I usually roll my dice immediately after getting them to prevent theft or some accident from happening."

"And how long have you been a Dicer?"

"To be honest, the day I woke up for the first time here I found the dice alongside the cellphone. Afterwards you can guess how much I have been doing those quests."

"I can imagine", she says, realization coming to her, "All those weird things you did before were quests? Even hiding my underwear?"

I blushed at her accusation. "Y-yes. Are you angry?"

She just shrugged in response. "It's already done, no harm no foul." But then she frowned, looking back at me. "That fight you had was also because of those quests."

I sighed and nodded. At this she became more pensive. "Those quests, they can be anything, can't they?"

I nodded back once more, earning a sigh from her. "I can guess where this will go in the end." Standing up to pick a glass of wine she continued. "One day you will be asked to perform a quest that might put your life in danger, or worse."

She was right of course. "Yes. I just hope when I accept a quest I can perform it without losing my sleep over it."

"You and me both."

"If I could abuse your kindness a bit more…"

"Oh, do you want to ravish me? I knew we were getting close, but so soon?"

"... I'd like some tips on how to learn magic." After all, she's the strongest witch on Earth, if there's someone able to help me with learning magic it's her. "I don't mean direct instruction, you must demand a lot in order to become your apprentice or something, but a way to start learning about magic would be ideal."

"You want to know more about those dice," she stated. It wasn't exactly right but I didn't correct her either. I wanted to know more about magic because it's MAGIC, the fact that I could speed learn magic through the use of dice just makes it perfect all around.

"I think I have something around," she said, and then she just put her hand behind her back and a book appeared on her hand. "Look what I found! Perhaps this will serve you well."

Taking the book I read the front cover, 'Beginnings in Thaumaturgy by T.R.'

I blinked, looking at the smiling expression on Lucretia's face and couldn't help but ask the question that's been bugging me since I woke up on her house's bed.

"Why are you helping me? Not that I'm not grateful for what you keep doing for me, but I can't help but wonder what your motive is."

"Can't I genuinely want to see you well?" She said, a hurt expression on her face.

"M-maybe", I tried to backpedal, "It's just, you had no idea who I was or why I was on your porch. You could have simply called the hospital instead of healing me or called the authorities on a missing person's case, but instead you took upon yourself to help me. I just wondered why."

"Well, I live a rather secluded life and only a few people would know where to find me, and when I get up to tend to my garden outside I see someone covered in grievous burns, with crushed bones and in several pieces piled together. If I thought too long you would have died."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. Pieces? I didn't knew I was in such bad state, but then again it's understandable considering what came towards me. If I don't have any obvious marks on my body then not only did she save my life, but restored me perfectly.

And here's the selfish moron who stole her underwear. Wonderful.

"You were just a charred corpse before so I decided to see what kind of person you where when you woke up. To be honest I was slightly disappointed when I found you were so… ordinary, but your involvement with X made me keep you closer to figure out how he keep piercing my house defenses, even after I told you not to contact him."

What? But I only talked with X… oh. "When I complete the quest I usually gain the dice on the spot."

"Exactly. Throughout the month I kept receiving pings on the defenses of one of the strongest barriers in the world, and the strongest barrier held by a single mortal. To say I was intrigued was an understatement, and now I know the real cause of the distortion."

"Are you angry that I so blatantly went against your order?"

"Disappointed perhaps, but you couldn't have know what was happening. You certainly value those dice, but I can't say for certain you wouldn't still do it if you knew what happened."

At this I averted my eyes from her. It's very likely I would still try to get around the restriction anyway, perhaps earning less dice at least.

"That's why you want to help me learn magic, to understand more about what I'm doing or up against?"

"That and I want you to avoid summoning horrors from beyond and toying with things powers far above mortal ken and unleashing them on earth. By accident."

"You say that as if that's normal."

"It happens far more often than I wish it did. Almost all apprentice level users at one point do something hideously stupid if they have the raw power for it."

"I will keep that in mind, and try to catch myself if I ever think the words 'there's no way this can go wrong'".

She let out a small laugh before pouring herself some wine (where did she get the glass and bottle?) "You told off those two knights from before, you will do just fine I'm sure."

I nodded in thanks. It was good to know she had faith in me.

"Here," she said while giving me a note with her address. "Send me a letter whenever you can, or call me later. I might have something for you to do later." She said the last with a coy smile, and I couldn't help but blush and firmly lock my eyes on hers. Because that's only polite. Yes.

"Anyway, thanks for all your help. I will call you when I find something for myself, if only to thank you back."

"You don't need to hurry, just make sure to live well."

~~O~~

"I hope one day I can repay my debt to you". I said to the woman standing in front of me. "Hopefully soon."

"Yes, yes", she replies, with an exasperated tone but still holding a smile. "You said that several times already. I will be happy if you just don't forget this old woman while you're away."

"You're hardly what I call old, regardless of age."

"Now flattery will get you nowhere. Oh, who I'm kidding? Praise me! Bow to me! Love me!"

At her antics I couldn't help but chuckle. "Long life Lucretia Zola!" I said with a bow. "The Strongest Witch on Earth, wonderful employer and loveliest lady."

"Damn right I am." She nodded with her arms crossed over her chest, before stifling a giggle. "Well, I guess it's time for you to go now. Can't be late to pick up your bus."

I nodded back and went for a tentative hug, hesitating mid-step, but she went ahead and hugged me anyway. We stayed like that for a few moments before parting ways. "Goodbye. I'll write whenever I can. Try not to drink your whole wine cellar while I'm away."

"Cheeky brat", she said lightly, slapping me behind my head, "Try not to get into too much trouble for those dice."

I nodded before we parted ways.

Inside the bus I could see her for a few moments before the bus towards the next city was off. Waving at the woman I couldn't help but feel glad that I met her. Not only had she saved my life but she helped me have a clean start on my new one, and I wouldn't forget that anytime soon.

Of that I swear.

_New Intimacy: Lucretia Zola (Gratitude)_

~~O~~

Looking at my character sheet I had to decide how to spend the points earned from the dice, but first I had to decide about my priorities.

What do I want for myself? How will I deal with the coming problems? How I will earn money, find a roof, eat and drink, clean myself?

The last dice haul was higher than average but that doesn't mean I can spend it without a thought. Before I can deal with those things, however, I need to do something first.

"X, how I can unlock my Essence?"

**'That again? Didn't I tell you you're too green to ask for that?'**

**'(*3*)'**

"Can you refresh my memory on how to unlock my Essence then?"

**'I don't remember actually telling you how to unlock your Essence.'**

**'Besides, that would take the fun out of the game.'**

**'Certain things you need to figure out for yourself.'**

**'But as your ever helpful GM I can give you a few hints.'**

**'It's possible to unlock your Essence through two main ways.'**

**'The Easy way, the way of the Dicer, and the Hard way, the normal way.'**

**'If I tell you more it will spoil the fun, start to put your mind towards cracking this puzzle.'**

Not exactly what I wanted, but still surprisingly useful. I have an idea on what could help me with unlocking my Essence. That put yet another thing on my own to-buy list.

Basically I want to prioritize a few things, in no particular order:

Survival; I need to be able to deal with physical threats and live to tell the tale. Considering the quests it isn't impossible that I'll will have to deal with direct conflict at some point.

Willpower; As it is I have slightly more willpower than a wet noodle, and that simply won't do. I'm also not virtuous enough, which in my opinion is a problem I need to rectify, if only to stay at the human average.

Money; I need to find a way to earn money so I can fucking EAT, can't get simpler than that.

Magic; I want to learn magic because magic is fucking AWESOME. It should also help me divine what those dice are, and why I had them with me in the first place.

Goals; I need to set some kind of goal that goes beyond 'surviving to see the next day'. Something to keep my mind occupied, something to keep me going and let me yell at the world how incredible is to be alive and how many wondrous things I will see or perform.

Yeah, you could say I'm done with living a normal, boring life.

~~O~~

First things first, I wanted to improve myself as a person, and while I could in theory go through a phase of intense soul searching, perhaps a bit of therapy and professional counseling and even getting involved in religion, I had dice to skip all that unpleasantness, for the most part.

One of the few perks of sucking so much I suppose.

_Willpower 3 - 4: 6_

_Willpower 4 - 5: 8_

_Willpower 5 - 6: 10_

_Willpower 6 - 7: 12_

_Compassion 1 - 2: 3_

_Conviction 1 - 2: 3_

_Temperance 1 - 2: 3_

_Temperance 2 - 3: 6_

As I finished enhancing those traits I felt something at the back of my head 'ping,' for lack of better word. You could say my vision about the world had changed, if only a little. I felt more centered, stronger somehow.

*Ding!* *Ding!* *Ding!*

I blinked after hearing that noise. It came from my pocket, but it wasn't the normal call for messages from X, and I hadn't brought a chip to have a phone number for it, let alone told anyone my phone number.

Taking the cellphone in my hands I saw that it was indeed yet another message from X.

**'Congratulations on your first milestone!'**

**'Looks like you are made from a better cut than others.'**

**'Or maybe you just got lucky with your rolls, who knows? \(*-*)/'**

**"What do you mean by milestone?"**

**'Oh, you know, an achievement and all that.'**

**'I'm just congratulating you on not being your average Dicer.'**

**'I guess what I'm saying is, I expect great, fun things from you.'**

"Thank you," I answered, a bit worried about what X just said. From the short time I had interacted with him I had begun to think he would congratulate me on anything. Taking a deep breath I shook myself from those dark thoughts and back to spending the dice points.

_Integrity 0 - 1: 3_

_Integrity 1 - 2: 2_

_Integrity 2 - 3: 4_

While I became mentally and morally stronger overall, I also spent a few more points in the 'integrity' ability, wondering how that counts as an ability instead of some other more static trait. I got my answer when I purchased it and knowledge entered my brain. Methods and techniques for centering myself, ranging from autosuggestion to meditative techniques used in order to not 'lose' myself. It resembled but at the same time was different from mere stubbornness, more like drawing strength in what I believed to be right, rather than simply refuting an argument out of spite or anger.

It was by far one of the best investments I ever made.

Sighing in contentment I looked around and noticed only my smartphone light was up, the night already falling when I finally decided how to spend my earned dice.

That done, I went back to my purchases.

_Strength 2 - 3: 8_

_Stamina 2 - 3: 8_

_Athletics 0 - 1: 3_

_Athletics 1 - 2: 2_

_Athletics 2 - 3: 4_

_Awareness 0 - 1: 3_

_Awareness 1 - 2: 2_

_Awareness 2 - 3: 4_

_Dodge 0 - 1: 3_

_Dodge 1 - 2: 2_

_Dodge 2 - 3: 4_

The next set of purchases I had spent a good time thinking through, considering my survivability in fights, namely how to better spot dangers and disengage from combat without being stabbed or shot on the back in return. Combined with my already formidable offensive capabilities I decided that my combat priorities were already meet for now. I could also spend some dice filling in my only weakness, ranged attacks, but then I would need to carry ammo with me, which wasn't really practical right now.

Lastly, I went to buy what I wanted instead of what I thought I need.

_Occult 0- 1: 3_

_Occult 1- 2: 2_

_Occult 2- 3: 4_

More knowledge poured into my mind, about spells, the supernatural in general, of who I shouldn't piss off and the things I should run away from very fast. The last two items were something I was really grateful for but not something all that practical yet. I doubt I will just come up against those monsters anytime soon.

After finishing strengthening myself I set out to figure out what to do from now on. I could use my craft skills to earn some money, find a simple job for now to get myself started.

Somehow that option felt too dull even for me, so I started reading on the thaumaturgy book while traveling. It was still a while before I got to the bus station, after all.

~~O~~

It was an interesting read, 'Beginnings in Thaumaturgy,' explaining how to perform the simplest of the magics.

According to the book, all manner of supernatural feats require the use of energy, either internal energy called Od on the west or Qi on the east, or an external source called Mana that is extracted from the world. Afterwards, things diverge a little.

The simplest form of magic is called thaumaturgy, or magecraft in some circles, and uses arcane knowledge to perform minor miracles that can easily be replicated by some piece of technology on a individual level, even if some of the greater thaumaturgical feats are only recently being replicated by technology.

The other form of magic available is sometimes called Sorcery which performs greater miracles that are either extremely difficult to replicate with technology, such as creating a flying chariot of light and fire to soar the skies at the speed of sound, or are outright impossible to conventional sciences, like certain purely conceptual magics or spirit summoning.

The book also quickly mentioned a third type of magic called Authority, possessed by Heretic Gods and Campiones (apparently the Italian name stuck worldwide), but as the book said, "the chances of the reader being either one is next to zero so don't bother with it" (the fact that if you faced either of them the proper course of action recommended was to 'sit in a corner and cry' was a bit worrying though).

It was an interesting read about the workings of magic, but I was only past the introduction when something in the air 'shifted,' for lack of better term.

I felt a shiver down my spine, and judging by the reactions of other passengers I wasn't the only one to feel that. I strained my senses to try and figure out the source of this distortion, thankful that I was in the corridor seat instead of the window seat, getting a clear view of both the seats and outside in the window.

I could hear it from the front seat right behind the driver, someone muttering a few words in a whisper. While I couldn't make out the words themselves I could feel the power behind them, making me feel drowsy, sleepy.

Gritting my teeth I powered through the effect, and soon enough the sensation of drowsiness faded off. All around me people started to doze off, not that they need much help considering it was already the middle of night. It didn't take long until the whole bus was sleeping and I heard movement from the front seats.

Pretending to be asleep I took advantage of the lights being off to watch what the mage was trying to do.

Someone with a tall, slim build started to move and check the passengers' seats for something, going from seat to seat while spending some time looking through them. Sometimes I could see him holding something in his hands before pocketing it. Looks like we have a petty thief here.

When the asshole finally came to me I was very still with my eyes closed and breathing lightly, my arms open in order to both move quickly and hide my intentions from him, using the shadows to cover for my movements.

As I felt the presence of the interloper coming closer, I also felt him pause just a few steps ahead of me, as if measuring my movements. I was about to go after him and break cover when he stepped closer and carefully extended his hand towards my pockets.

It was then that I spurred myself into action. Opening my eyes I quickly grabbed him by the arms and pulled him towards myself, in order to crush him with a chokehold, hopefully catching him unawares.

It was over in two heartbeats, the first few instants sapping most of the thief's will to fight and the next immediate instants putting him to sleep. If I don't disturb him he should be out for a few minutes, good enough to figure out what he wanted to do.

Yet somehow I couldn't shake the feeling that it was too easy.

Of course, just as I finished that thought I heard clapping sounds echoing from the front of the bus.

"Bravo! Oh Bravo! I knew the apprentice of Lucretia could put up with a better fight than that!" I heard a feminine voice from the front of the bus, and I could faintly make out the silhouette of a woman sitting on the top of the bus seat, legs crossed and perfectly balancing herself, even with the movements of the vehicle.

"Of course I hope you understand that since I've revealed myself I can't let you go away. Please be a dear and don't struggle alright? It would be a shame if you got too injured before your next destination."

"What do you want?" I demanded. I tried to make out the woman's face in the darkness, unfortunately without much success.

Her tone in return was that irritating mocking tone, as if talking to a slow person. "Couldn't you tell? Here I thought the apprentice of the Strongest Witch on Earth would be smarter than that."

"The hell are you talking about?" As I tried to step forward I saw some more movement around the seats. Did the ruckus wake them up?

"If you want to play games that's fine, but I would prefer if you'd just sit down like a good boy let me take you."

At this declaration I felt another wave of drowsiness hit me, almost forcing me to my knees, but this time I could bat it aside and keep myself awake without forcing myself much. With a grin I stood up once more and looked directly at the woman. "I don't think I'll do that without a fight."

Unless she tried to hit me with something stronger than that sleep spell of hers I could resist a few more attempts, then I could get close to her and literally squeeze some compliance from her. She stuck first so I don't need to be gentle with her.

"If it's a fight you want", she said, raising her arms. Again, I could hear some faint murmuring, "Then it's a fight you will have."

As she finished saying that, every one on the passengers in their seats stood up like puppets on a string, their movements unnaturally quick in some places, while in others their limbs hung limp at their sides. I couldn't see much of their faces, but the closest to me still had its eyes closed.

"Get him, dears."

As she said that they started moving faster. I tried to take a few steps back, but those behind me stopped my movements. Both those in front and behind me tried to hold and pin me down while I heard a feminine laugh from the front.

Again another wave of drowsiness came, almost making me fall down under the weight of so many people trying to gang up on me. Fortunately all the movement and struggle filled by body with adrenaline, so I was wide awake and slowly stood up.

There was no way I could deal with this without injuring those people, and that wasn't something I was too keen on doing, after all those people were innocent of whatever this mage was plotting. Unfortunately, just as I tried to think a way through this even more passengers tried to squeeze themselves onto me in order to pin me down.

Gritting my teeth, I steeled my heart and resolve, and with a whisper of 'I'm sorry' I cocked my fist back, my target clearly defined even through the darkness.

With a loud yell I threw the strongest punch I could, hitting a man in front of me, knocking back a few of them in the process. Just as they were laid down on the ground I tore myself from the hold of the ones at my back and started to walk above the fallen bodies, using them as springboards to push myself forward faster while holding onto the side of the seats. If I didn't give them time to regroup I could possibly reach my destination with fewer problems than necessary.

Managing to balance myself easily on the small pile of bodies I saw the other passengers coming right at me, trying to grapple, scratch and even bite me. Somehow I managed to push them back, taking advantage of their jerky movements.

As the mass of bodies fell and rose in response to my movements, I caught a glimpse of something suspicious. Narrowing my eyes, I quickly scanned around me and saw a simple pattern, and with a vicious smile I threw myself towards the wave of people in front of me, jumping on the seats and using them to balance myself before coming down with elbow strikes and punches towards the puppet passengers.

More of those puppets fell, but just as I managed to push myself forwards over their fallen bodies I could see the fallen enemies coming back from behind.

"It's futile, you know," said the woman from her vantage point, "Beating them up right now will only make them stay on the ground for a few moments before they rise again, ignoring their wounds. Certainly you don't plan to beat them up until their bones break and their contusions become more serious, do you?"

"Trying to shift the blame is useless," I calmly answered, "If you care so much about the innocent passengers being pummeled by me you should simply stop raising them back and confront me head on!"

"As it stands, I'm not really good with direct conflict, and there's no reason at all for me to get involved in a fistfight, ever."

At her admission I couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, you will see. Wait there, because I'm going to crush you with my bare hands."

"Hah! Such foolishness will be rewarded only with failure!"

Once more I felt the wave of drowsiness hit me, and this time it was strong enough I had to bite my lips until I drew blood to properly stand up, but I was still in the game.

The bodies behind me tried to hold me, but their uncoordinated assault with the front puppets made it easy for me to bat away their attempts with elbows strikes and by twisting myself away from their hands.

I had to keep pressuring the puppets with stronger attacks in order to pierce the defense of their wall of bodies. There were still a few more steps I had to take but I couldn't rush in headstrong, otherwise my gamble might be seen and I might miss at the most crucial moment, but I still needed to keep going without pause, otherwise the enemies would just keep piling themselves towards me. I thought about holding one of them and using their bodies to beat them up, but I doubt it would have worked.

Instead I continued with my fists, elbows and knees. Quickly grabbing the puppet in front of me I hit him in the stomach doubling him down and I slid between him and the seat at the left to continue beating up my enemies.

Unfortunately the effect was subdued, and more and more enemies tried to grab hold of me, scratch, and bite. Some even tried to clumsily punch me.

The bus made a turn, throwing most of the puppets to one side. I took that moment to keep moving towards my target, who somehow was still sticking on the seat without problems. I narrowed my eyes and tried to make out her features under the darkness, trying to listen to the subtle sounds coming from the front.

With that little bit my suspicions intensified and I renewed my efforts. Calculating the distance I was sure I could get near enough in one or two more tries. With that in mind I concentrated, centering myself to keep with the plan and I pressed forward, trying to keep my head clear and my senses open to make sure I would succeed.

It was by a hair's breadth that I managed to get a few steps closer, the mass of bodies dwindling down the closer I was to the front.

Once more I felt the wave of drowsiness, but this time I was more prepared for it, and the spell washed over my mental defenses like a rock that stands firm in the middle of a river.

"Got you!" I said while I was wrestling with the puppets behind me, and my hand shot towards my target catching it before any retaliation from it could be done.

"Gah!" said the thin, sickly looking man, his eyes locking down with mine differently from the way the partially closed or fully closed puppets were. He tried to struggle, but my arms were firmly around his throat, ready to squeeze the life out of him with a simple grip.

"Call off the puppets, now!"

As I yelled my command they fell on the ground, their strings cut down just as the man was starting to panic. "H- how?" He managed to gasp.

I quickly spun him around to better get him into a chokehold, and once more he gasped for air that was quickly becoming rarer and rarer.

How indeed. 'She' appeared to be someone cautious with that first ability to control someone else to do 'her' bidding, but then 'she' suddenly come out and made 'herself' a target by openly sitting on the seat, even with an army as a shield? 'She' certainly had a lot of confidence on 'her' puppets, or something else that could defeat me before reaching 'her'. It was while getting closer that the form of the 'woman' gave itself away as an illusion since it didn't acted like it should when the bus turned, so I knew 'she' had an ace up 'her' sleeve.

There was also a simple pattern, an easy one to find really; after all, he brought up ALL the passengers after me. Considering my gamble I wasn't expecting him to throw himself at me for any reason at all, and sure enough there was only a single seat with a 'sleeping' man still seated.

Perhaps he had a limit on how to control his puppets, perhaps he simply goofed in his planning, or perhaps he was simply too green and committed those rookie mistakes, or maybe, just maybe, he wasn't expecting me to last this long against him. Whatever the reason I managed to catch him unaware and finish him and I won't complain about my victory.

As I felt his body go limp I breathed a sigh of relief, a small grin resting in my face.

I had faced my first supernatural threat and won.

The future didn't look so bad from here.

* * *

><p><strong>Update 238/2014**


	4. Chapter 4

The inner door of the bus opened and with great haste I scurried away from that place, a few Euros richer than before. I had taken them from the magician, along with some extra articles of clothing.

I doubt traveling stark naked is acceptable in Italy, but considering he tried to attack me for stupid reasons his 'donations' will be put to good use.

Letting out a single chuckle I went back to more pressing matters, and first off I need to know more about my pursuers, since I know there would be more of them later if that moron coming after me was any indication, either to finish what the idiot started or to retaliate for what I did to him. Either way, I had to keep moving in order to gain more time.

It didn't take long before I was able to get another bus ticket directly towards Olbia, with great timing too, since it was about to leave.

Running to take the last bus of the night I managed to see, from far away, a man being dragged away by some police officers, and again I had to stifle my laugh and act calmly as if I had nothing to do with that. Fortunately I'm made of sterner stuff now, so I could act naturally without problems.

Granted, I had a small smile on my face, but I also managed to catch the bus right on time, so everything evens out.

~~O~~

The ride toward Olbia was uneventful this time around, letting me catch my breath. Unfortunately, the city was a good checkpoint for my pursuers, since I intended to catch a ride to the continent from here. My sense of paranoia went up and I quickly looked after my boat ticket, checking everywhere and everyone that might be looking after me.

The stress was catching up to me as I walked towards the ticket boot when I got a call.

Of course, I had forgotten to buy the damn chip for the phone so there was only one person that could have called me.

**'Sleep outside for a week. Reward: 2 dice.'**

**'Accept quest? Y/N?'**

Looking at the screen I almost instinctively hit 'Y' once more, but stopped to think things through. I had to ration my money until I could find a reliable source and hotels are expensive as hell. I could try and find a shelter, but a single week won't kill me and I could easily change locations to sleep, making it harder to track me down. With that in mind I hit 'Y' to accept the quest.

Just as I did that another ring sounded and I got another call. Two quests in a single day?

**'Earn 100 Euros by begging. Reward: 3 dice.'**

**'Bonus: Earn it in a single week. Bonus reward: 4 dice.'**

Again I almost hit the 'Y' instinctively, but it didn't take long for me to hit it 'Y' again. Once more the quest didn't have a hard time limit except for the bonus dice, but there was still a nice reward even without the bonus.

"Are my quests going to be like that from now on?" I asked X while looking around. So far there was nobody suspicious looking at me, and I relaxed a bit in order to talk with my GM.

**'Not all quests are instant like the ones before.'**

**'Then again, those types of quest don't have a time limit so it's basically impossible to fail them.'**

**'You should thank your ever merciful GM.'**

**'(-.^)'**

"Of course I should," I muttered under my breath before moving back into the line for my tickets.

~~O~~

While in the line I kept searching for suspicious-looking people after my skin. Fortunately, there weren't any near the place right now, allowing me to relax a little, for the moment. Once I got to the ticket booth, however I had to face deception.

"What do you mean there aren't any?" I asked, indignation and ire in my voice.

"I'm sorry sir," the attendant says, unfazed by my tone, the tick Plexiglas doing its job nicely, "But we sold the last ticket for today already. If you want, we have some for tomorrow.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and sighed. "Fine, I will take one for next afternoon."

I almost choked after seeing the price for the ticket, but held my breath and bought it anyway after tearfully parting with the money. It's a good thing my salary was rather high, but without a sure source of money it'll dry fast with daily dispenses, like food.

Speaking of money, I have one day to do whatever, so I might as well start my first quest.

~~O~~

It took me a while to get a good spot without anybody else, so I started my quest.

Or tried to, at least. When I went for the first time I kept hesitating, my hand always going back to my pockets and I simply let people walk around me, giving me weird looks when I apparently glared at them.

After ten minutes I started asking for some help, literally begging them for something they could spare, the act cutting me like a knife with both the act itself and the stuttering I couldn't keep out of my voice.

In the end it was a wasted hour, but I managed to get a little 'practice' on what to do and I endured the shame and wounded pride, thinking to myself that I wasn't doing it for the money and rather for the Dice, which actually made it easier to perform the deed.

It was by luck that in the next hour I managed to earn a few coins, an old lady taking pity on me and giving me some spare change. I thanked her profusely for her generosity before I paused for a while.

That simply wasn't working like it was supposed to. You could say I was too stage shy to properly beg and ask for a few coins, and to be honest I doubt people would normally be inclined to part with their hard earned money if you just ask.

Going back to a bench I brought out my cellphone. "Hey X, do I need to ask for money for it to count as begging or can I perform something else so long as I get the money?"

**'Whatever you do to finish the quest isn't my problem =p'**

**'So long as the quest parameters are somehow fulfilled it shouldn't be a problem.'**

"I see," and with that I had some better idea on what to do.

Standing up, I took off my bag and placed it in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I centered myself. Setting myself into a neutral stance, I quickly switched to an attack posture and did a jab followed by a kick, taking a single step ahead.

Rising my leg, I caught with a single leaf falling from the trees with my feet before jumping and spinning once more, hitting the same small leaf with my other leg and landing near a pile of leaves, making them drift away with my landing.

Without missing a beat I spun on my leg and made a cartwheel, spinning backwards and landing in another, more stable stance while I punched with both of my fists, two, three, four times. Pulling my leg close to me, I set my leg upwards as if catching another leaf on the wind. I jumped with a spin, hitting an invisible, impossibly tall opponent with my leg.

Thus it kept going like that for almost an hour, with small pauses to ask for a little donation for an unemployed martial artist. This time I earned some money, it was just a little of course, but this time it came more steadily than before.

The next hour I tried something different, with more acrobatics in order to bring in more viewers. Using the bench as a stepping stone to fly higher in the air with a spinning back flip kick, sometimes using the edge of the seat to balance myself before kicking off in a impressively high hell drop kick.

In the end three hours of martial arts displays and asking for donation earned me a whooping twelve euros total. Not bad since it was my first day, but not good either since at this rate I'll barely scrape the quota for the bonus Dice.

Sighing, I took my bag and went to the fountain for a cool drink. At the edge of my vision I saw something suspicious. A small group of five men were watching me for a while, but at the time I dismissed it as mere curiosity for the guy performing martial arts, but now they kept their distance and were not only watching me, but also my surroundings.

My sense of paranoia rose at those signals and I stood up and started to walk away from the park to somewhere else, first at a sedate pace then at a faster walk. A single glance backwards let me know they were still after me.

Turning a corner, I started to run away as fast as I could, jumping through trashcans and walls in order to shake off pursuit, but not so much that I couldn't track them down with some effort. Taking another look backwards, I could see them following my trail at top speed.

Kicking on the walls I climbed up to the second floor to a building, and noticed that I had jumped unusually high, roughly 5 yards from a standing position. I wasn't exactly ready for that revelation and stayed still for a few seconds before I caught my pursuers' shadows from where I was and the chase resumed.

I let them come close enough to me before restarting the chase, then I turned into a corner in the building, waiting for one of them to come.

The fastest was hit with a kick from around the corner just as he turned to face me, his expression one of surprise before I planted my feet firmly on his face, sending him backwards on his back right into the ground. I didn't want to take my stand here, but I could hear the guy friends quickening their pace after my display of willingness to inflict copious amounts of violence.

After running a good deal ahead I paused a minute before I let them catch up to their fallen friend, and as I saw them from my point near the stairs I flipped them off. I stayed just long enough to see one of them pulling something from behind their pants, most likely a gun, but I was already away at the time.

Running away from the dangerous people was somewhat easier than I thought it would be thanks to my speed, even if I don't go all out. In order to get to the next level I jumped from the terrace into the upper floor using my newly discovered jumping abilities, balancing myself with a single hand on the sidewalk before pulling myself up.

On the next floor I waited a bit for them to come after me, two of them coming up this time, and smarter than the previous one since they came from the back of the corner instead of the front allowing plenty of time to see me.

Too bad that as I noticed them coming I ran fast towards them, jumping and delivering a devastating flying knee kick to one. Using that enemy as a balance point, I twisted and threw myself at the other guy with a kick on his jaw, both of them dropping to the ground bonelessly from my assault.

There was still some time for me to see the three other guys, the man I nearly knocked down in one shot far away with the two whoever they are after my hide. This time I could see the weapon on the hand on one of my pursuers and I started to run away, hearing the gunshot just as I turned back on the corridor.

This time I kept running forwards without skipping floors for a few more minutes until I hit the top floor after opening the last door. Jumping upwards on the door I waited patiently until they came, hiding myself by crouching and staying silent.

Two pursuers came, one after another, and I jumped on the guy that was obviously armed, catching him by surprise. He turned around in order to shot me, but my feet went right into his head, sending him back a few steps backwards before he tripped, falling to the ground.

The other pursuer took a knife from his pocket and charged at me. I dodged his clumsy attacks with such grace that it surprised myself, his movements slow in comparison with mine. The man with the gun tried to stand up and fired a shot, but he missed me by a mile and just as he finished that he made himself my priority target twice over.

Running at him, I hit him on the head with an axe kick over his already tattered nose before sparing a glance to his stunned expression, finishing him off with a flying spinning back kick to his jaw.

The guy with the knife looked at me, then at his weapon before running away, and this time it was me going after him. It didn't take long before I caught up to him and slammed his face into the wall, painting it with his blood.

I spared a thought to search them for money, but discarded that thought easily. I could brush off beating up five guys going after me, one of them with a gun, but not if they were missing money and if I gave them that idea then things would end badly for me.

It was with those thoughts in mind that I meet the last guy panting from the exertion and holding his bleeding noise. I pause right at his side and he looks up. He looks left and right, not finding his friends.

"Uhm, parlay?"

O decked him in the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.

~~O~~

The next day my shoulders were cramped due to sleeping on the bench but otherwise I was fine, and I did yet another bout of martial arts display on another, different, park in order to earn my keep for the quest.

I kept things simple since I had no idea how to make it more cooler other than taking a more acrobatic kata and concentrating on what I was doing to make it as perfect as possible, and perhaps that was the best and only thing I needed. After four grueling hours of intense martial arts showing I earned thirty two more euros, a nice catch for now.

I used some of my money to eat something nice before getting on the boat on time, but just as I was inside something caught my attention. I tried to look around but there was nothing, except the faint feeling that I was being watched.

~~O~~

I took my time walking around the ferry to enjoy the sights, and soon I found something interesting: inside the boat there was a small bar that sold some liquor and snacks.

"I didn't know there was a bar on this boat!" I couldn't help but exclaim from my seat to nobody in particular. The bartender, however, let out a small chuckle before going back to cleaning some glasses.

"It's new. For quite a while there was a demand for better accommodations on the boat since it takes a while to get from Sardinia to Italy, so the company is employing these more expensive boats. It isn't any faster than the other models, but the experience is more enjoyable, I'm told."

It certainly was. I had a small but comfortable cabin to myself, though it didn't have a toilet included, forcing me to use the public one. But on the other hand it came with showers. Speaking of showers, I might go after one later. "For now just give me a soda," I said, placing a few coins on the table.

"What can you tell me about the city we're going to?" I asked the barman.

"Nothing much", he said, shrugging. "It's a port town, with all that implies. I know some nice restaurants if you're interested."

"I think I'll pass, those restaurants are usually pretty hard on my frail wallet." I was about to take a sip from my drink when I saw something, or at least I thought I saw something. "Did you put something in my drink?"

"Just ice, why?"

"Nothing, just checking." Looking around, I couldn't see anybody suspicious, but a sense of unease crept over me for a while.

~~O~~

I couldn't find anyone suspicious-looking, so, perhaps against my better judgment, I went towards the public toilet to take a refreshing bath. Putting my clothes in the bag I brought some soap and a single fresh towel.

Letting the soothing hot water fall on my head and shoulders everything came back to me, how now I can even fight against someone wielding a gun and come out unscratched, or even how there's too much conflict in my life now compared with before. Can't say I regret how things are going right now, but I think it'll take a while until I get used t-.

Pain. Pain pain pain PAIN!

"AUGH! WHAT THE HELL!"

I looked at my right hand and there was a fish biting on my hand. Just as I noticed the fish I found myself being devoured alive by sea life, like fish and octopus and being stung by a sea urchin! Trying to protect my more vulnerable area I slapped down a crab going after me. Tripping on the wet floor I hit the ground hard, where there were more sea urchins waiting for me.

I tried to run from there but it took all my effort to keep that murderous seafood from going after my vulnerable parts, and the balls of needles on the ground wasn't helping much.

"Is anybody there?" I hear someone asking before coming in. "What the hell are you doing?"

Just as he said that I felt the weight on my body vanish and looking around there was no signal for any hostile sea life.

"Do you need any help?" He said, a bit hesitantly at first, though there was something in how he said it that made me uneasy.

"I'm mostly fine, thank you for asking." I said while taking his hand and pulling myself up. I was full of minor cuts and bruises from the attack. "I just need to bandage those up."

"Er, sure, go ahead. I will be, uh, out while you do you stuff. Take your time." With that last part he went away in a hurry, but I can't fault him for that.

~~O~~

Thankfully there was an infirmary on the boat to bandage me up, though it was a bit awkward to answer how I got those wounds.

"I tripped on an aquarium."

"When was that?"

"Earlier. Look," I said to the nurse helping me, "It's an embarrassing story, can you just forget about it?"

"If you say so." At that moment a ringtone came from the nurse's pocket and she looked at me.

"Go ahead," I said with a sigh before the nurse excused herself.

I was tired from the ordeal and still a bit confused about what the hell happened, but I was also thinking how to proceed from here. A new enemy had appeared and was using sea life to attack, with dangerous fish and crustaceans after my skin, yet I was still in one piece.

I knew there were several more dangerous things to throw at me, most of them extremely poisonous or bigger than a piranha, so either the enemy is toying with me or there's a limit to his or her attack patt-.

"AUGH!"

I yelled just in time to see another piranha chewing at my neck and I quickly searched for a source of water, finding a cup of water spilled on the ground. How the hell this fish jump this high?

Taking away the fish I put my hand to my neck to staunch the bleeding while stomping on the other piranhas on the ground coming in and out from the water pool until they stopped coming altogether.

"What's going on?"

The nurse came back to a scene of chaos with me stomping on nothing, as the enemy attack had suddenly disappeared again, with me bleeding on my neck.

"Something bit my neck!" I quickly said while showing her the chewed-up spot, not letting her get much time with questioning. Her reaction was quick and resolute and soon my neck was treated.

I quickly gave my thanks to her and ran away from the place, the nurse's protests notwithstanding. Apparently the attacker didn't want to have any witness to his assaults so I went to 'hide' in the bar which was full of people and I could think calmly for a moment.

~~O~~

Inside the bar, I ordered some coffee, not really trusting the water in the end. I had to figure out my attacker, but I still had no idea how the enemy managed to attack me. I knew the vector for the attacks was nearby sources of water, which the fish and other sea life could be violently ejected from to perform their attacks.

Aggressive, flying sea life in the middle of a boat. I would laugh if I didn't want to cry.

I tried to sip on my coffee when I saw someone bringing a bucket of water at the entrance, making me tense immediately. The barman opened the faucet to clean some cups and other dishes, creating a large pool of water which did nothing to help the situation.

Just as I was about to bring my cup to my lips the janitor turned outside to take something he had probably forgotten, when suddenly I dived on the ground to avoid a fucking SWORDFISH going after my neck jumping from the pool from the barmen, who apparently saw nothing, and the damn swordfish managed to dive straight into the bucket of water.

Both janitor and barman saw nothing, one away from the bar at the moment and the barman had in that split second looked at something bellow on the balcony.

Goddamn it!

I needed to figure out how the enemy managed to attack me, and fast, otherwise I wouldn't last the trip.

~~O~~

I ran towards my cabin in order to have some peace and quiet since there isn't any water in it. The only window is closed airtight and probably strong enough to deal with little things; most importantly, it faces away from me.

I left the door open since I didn't want someone to close it from the outside, as it's painfully easy to do with simple Thaumaturgy, being one of the few procedures listed on the book I had.

Without much actual knowledge I have to guess at what's happening. The fact that fish and other sea life is being Summoned using water as a vector is painfully obvious, but how he's able to keep making them go after me is the tricky part.

Perhaps with some tracking device planted on me? If he or she were stronger or simply a better mage, then I would be attacked by things more dangerous than berserking seafood, or at least truly dangerous sea life (barring the swordfish incident).

Searching myself, it didn't take long to find the tracking token, a small handkerchief with an intricate pattern drawn in black ink. Since I'm fairly sure it isn't mine that's almost certainly what my enemy is using to track me down.

But why? Why would I be targeted by someone?

That last thought made me facepalm, since it's rather obvious: the previous guy targeting me called for backup of some sort. Whatever the reason, they went after me first. Now it's a question of honor to take me down, especially if I also take down this next pursuer.

This time, however, I'll take the time to properly interrogate whoever came after me. I may not be the best at interrogation right now, but I'm sure if I beat him to a pulp he will be quite amenable to talking.

… Maybe I'm jumping too early towards violence, but anyone would after being a literal chew toy for hostile fish. Still, there's no reason to think I can overpower him or her so easily, considering it's a magic user I'm dealing with.

"Hey X, do you have some quests real quick right now?"

**'Shouldn't you be concerned about whoever is after your neck instead of MOAR QUESTS?'**

**'I wonder what kind of power hungry fool wants more power while being besieged by discount Lovecraft enemies?'**

**'Oh wait, I don't need to wonder, I already know what kind, it's you! LOLOLOL'**

**'However I'm feeling magnanimous today, so here's a spare few quests, all of them within your reach. Aren't I nice?'**

Another chime came and the new quests appeared.

**'Drop half of all your money on the sea as an offering to the Sea God.'**

**'Reward 2 dice. Bonus: Drop all money on the Sea. Bonus Reward: 2 dice.'**

**'Accept quest? Y/N'**

**'Get off the ship ACCIDENTALLY and directly into the sea.'**

**'Reward 3 dice. Accept quest? Y/N'**

**'Be chased by a shark or a shiver of sharks.'**

**'Reward 5 dice. Accept quest? Y/N'**

**'Eat some raw fish.'**

**'Reward 1 dice. Accept quest? Y/N'**

I looked at the quests and accepted all of them on instinct. Regardless of their nature, I need some extra power right now as a safety net before encountering the magus with a vendetta against me.

But first I need to check a few things first…

~~O~~

Good thing the bar sold some sushi and sashimi alongside other dishes, netting me a (almost) free die.

Next I dropped all my money in the sea getting four more dice and right now I'm on the border of the ship, sitting rather dangerously and barely balancing myself, just waiting for the ship itself to toss me out of th-

"GOD DAMN ITTTTT! HELP! HELP!" I yelled with all my might before, while and after hitting the water. Good thing I'm a good swimmer, or at least became a good swimmer thanks to the Dice.

Soon a small group of people came to look at the fool who fell off the ship. "Are you alright?"

"I'm FINE! But I would be better back in the ship!"

Somebody had the foresight to throw a lifebuoy with a rope to me, but at the time I had momentarily frozen from the sight in front of me. A large shark appeared from nowhere, I wasn't looking and then suddenly that famous shark fin appeared outside the water.

"SHARK! PULL ME IN, PULL ME IN!"

I didn't actually want to be chased by sharks when I accepted that quest!

"Come on, we're getting you out of there!"

I tried my best to swim as fast as I could before climbing away from the shark with everything I had, and I still had to had to kick it away, otherwise I would have been bitten by its monstrous jaws.

After getting back up, I took a deep breath and checked for the dice; no way I'm almost dying just to let someone else get my hard earned prize!

One, two …, six, seven, "Thank you!" I said while quickly snatching the last die from someone that had picked it up previously. Ignoring protests from both the guy and the sailor who saved me, I went straight ahead to my cabin to pick up my towel.

I've finally had with these motherfucking fish on this motherfuckin ship, that magus is going down!

~~O~~

*Knock Knock*

"Sir, we found out that your ticket had some problems. Could you please follow me and talk with the captain immediately?"

"Really? … Alright, I'm going."

After a few seconds the sound of the lock opening the door was heard. In front of me was a young man, no older than his early twenties with light brown hair appeared. You could say he was handsome in a girly way, with a weak looking constitution.

For a moment he stared in shock, unable to move even a single muscle at what he was looking at. After all, he was looking directly at me.

"Oh fuck me."

"But I haven't even started!"

With a sucker punch we both entered his cabin.

~~O~~

A few minutes earlier I took a look at the book about thaumaturgy and searched the bit about magic sensing and seeing. There was a little ritual that allowed me to see the residual mana of a cast spell, a mere cantrip to be honest, but it was more than enough for what I need right now.

_Mana Seeing, 1xp_

_Awareness 3 - 4, 6xp_

_Martial Arts - 3 - 4, 6xp_

_Perception 3 - 4, 12xp_

_Investigation 0- 4, 15xp_

The Mana Seeing ritual was simple enough and didn't require anything special to perform other than something to draw blood and performing the necessary prayers, so I quickly went about doing it, with a deep breath to center myself first.

_"Mortals Bound by Flesh, Spirits Unbound."_

_"Prana is the life of the universe, the breathing of the world."_

_"Allow this lowly self to witness the universal flow."_

_"Grant this mortal an instant into heaven's secrets."_

With the prayer finished I bit my finger hard, drawing some blood. I smeared it into my eyelids in a red eyeshadow. I opened my eyes, and my vision became blurred to the world.

Looking at the small handkerchief I could see a light blue light emanating from it, and if I strained my eyes I could see a very thin thread of light coming from it and out of my cabin's door.

With a wicked grin I started following the trail.

~~O~~

"So," I said while cracking my fists, "Let's have a little chat, alright? Let's start with 'Why are you after me?' and work our way from there."

"You broke my n-", he tried to yell but I hit him in the gut first, making him double over.

"Less bitching, more answering my questions. Who are you and why are you after me?!"

I was still ready to attack him, and that made the magus pause for a moment. We locked eyes for a few seconds, my glare intensifying, clenching and unclenching my fists as time passed by.

He averted his gaze first and started talking. "If you must know, I'm the apprentice of the great Alessandro Abelli il Terzo and I'm here to avenge the humiliation you put my master through!"

Come again? I wracked my brain for a minute before I recalled the two knights coming to bother my former employer, and dare I say the first friend I made in this world.

"One of the guys with the stupid plan?" I tried, and immediately the magi's expression darkened. Seems like I nailed it. "Do they have that much free time to send their minions after someone's ex- servant?"

"Don't you dare trash talk about my master! I came here of my own volition to avenge the shame you put him through alongside my friend, but you took him down already! Do you know how hard it will be to get him out of jail?"

"Not really my problem if he comes after my neck and has to face the consequences. Just dissing them once is grounds for attempted murder, though? I still remember the sharks and the swordfish."

"Hah! If you were killed by them it wouldn't be my problem, there would be no evidence of your demise after all. But then again…"

Suddenly my body tensed and I flipped back, unable to stop him from quickly standing up with unnatural grace, pushing me away with a kick coming inches from my face, an aura of power surrounding him for a while.

"I know how to handle myself in combat."

As he said that he charged at me with a punch I barely avoided, his speed like nothing I had ever encountered before here or in my life. If I were to guess I'd say it's a product of the aura surrounding him enhancing his movements.

I tried to retaliate but he easily blocked my kick, preventing from rising by slamming it into the bed. He tried to capitalize on that momentary distraction by sending a haymaker punch but I quickly tossed the blanket on the bed towards him, giving me enough time to push the magus away from my face.

Using the distraction I feinted with my hand, but in reality I was aiming at a lower part of his with my next attack.

"Augh!" He whimpered, and his aura flickered for an instant but was still active. Perhaps he's better than I thought. Still, with this injury I can quickly defeat him if I keep pushing my att-

A pillar of water hit me in the chest, sending me crashing down backward through the door. I coughed up some water. My back hurt, but I could still fight. In my enemy's hand there was a thin blade of water, while he kept his other hand on his lower injuries.

"I'm going to gut you like a fish!"

He rushed after me and I tumbled out of the way of the piercing attack. I could see some drops slipping from his arm to form the water blade, so perhaps he has a time limit to how much he can use it. Perhaps he can keep it up all day, perhaps only a few minutes.

I don't have minutes to play. Quickly a harebrained plan formed in my head, it will take a lot of luck to make it work but for now it's what I have, other than 'punching him until he stops moving,' that is.

Still, I had to keep fighting against him until the right time. "I hope you don't wet yourself trying to finish me off."

I could see a vein bulging from his forehead and the angry expression marring his girlish features, coming at me with a charge once more. However, I intercepted his blade fist by jumping inside his reach instead of retreating, making my enemy widen his eyes at my bold approach. So while he can 'handle himself in combat' he probably doesn't have much experience in real life battles, if this little display is surprising to him.

Capitalizing on that I spun on my heels for a spinning back kick to his gut, managing to hit him in the ribs and feeling the soft tissue cave in for an instant, the air going out of his lungs from my attack, but he in response grabbed my leg and tried to slash it. I managed to get out without being maimed, but the injury made me pause for a moment. It wasn't so serious that I couldn't walk or even run, but it will certainly hinder me.

I had to be calm and focus, ignoring the pain from my leg while I led my enemy through the corridor into the outside patio where I 'accidentally' fell. Usually there's nobody there, most of the passengers either in their cabins at this hour or on other parts of the ship. The magus didn't slow down with his attacks, trying to cut me while I narrowly dodged away by leaping and rolling from his assaults.

With my back turned to the sea I started to pant, pretending to be far more tired than I actually was, hoping that my plan will take effect. "You know, those fish of yours where a better challenge than you."

"Oh? Then how about I reintroduce you to them?" He said, and with a quick chant, too far away for me to interrupt, I felt something coming close to my back.

Now!

Turning around I had a split moment to see that my gamble actually paid off and without waiting I grabbed the large shark coming to eat me alive and I tossed him towards the magus.

I couldn't see his expression, but whatever his reaction I was already moving to attack him, using all my will and power for the next attack. The magus narrowly dodged the shark but he came straight into my face and straight into a flying knee kick, sending him backwards into the sea.

"Wah… Gah!" He was mostly uninjured when he hit the water, but he had no idea I had thrown back the shark into the sea and straight back at his face.

"AH-" crunch, snap!

I averted my gaze from the gory mess, and making sure nobody had watched our fight I limped back to the infirmary.

Hopefully I can have a good night's rest before getting back on land.

* * *

><p><strong>Updated 2408/2014**


	5. Chapter 5

It's been a month since I left Sardinia and I've been traveling Italy, doing quests and trying to lay low whenever possible.

Of course that failed miserably since X's quests now were the type to attract a lot of attention. The begging segment aside, I was asked to sing in public, perform acrobatics and officially perform martial arts demonstrations alongside dojo challenges.

The last one gave me a certain degree of fame as the 'Wandering Master Hobo' or the much easier to say 'Ryu' after someone connected the dots between me and my namesake video game character.

While I counted the money I had gathered this week I also spared a glance at the red dice in my possession, those twenty dice I gathered before giving me exactly 76 points I keep on reserve. Looking at my character sheet I could improve and even master a few more abilities with those Dice, but a thought had struck me a while ago.

With the rate I'm gaining Dice I could master every single ability in a few years, even raising my physical, mental and social traits to the highest human level. I could reach the highest degree of human potential without magic in all areas possible. But then what?

How do I go from there? SHOULD I go further from there? Even counting just my martial arts abilities, I have more than enough skill to live comfortably if I decide to open a dojo or teach at one. With my athletics skills I could also try my hand at various competitive sports with a good enough degree of proficiency, more than enough to hit low professional levels. Or go and break the High Jump World Record as I am now, I guess.

Putting back the Dice in my pocket I watched the sunset, the pretty colors of the twilight doing nothing to help answer my question.

Then again, my problem is more of acceptance than anything else.

Why do I keep traveling, why do I keep performing quests, why I keep going on?

The simple answer is, I want to see how far I can go, how far my reach can extend, how much of a difference I can make in the world. To know if me getting those Dice was just a fluke of fate, or if there was a higher purpose to it.

I also wanted to see what unlocking my Essence could do, of course. Right now I can learn thaumaturgy instantly, but something at the back of my mind told me that real power would be behind Essence use. Another reason I wanted to learn about Essence is because it seems to be a unique terminology.

The book about thaumaturgy used words like 'mana', 'od', 'qi' or even 'prana' but nothing about Essence. Is it something unique to the Dicers, or merely something not openly advertised by the magi of this world?

As the twilight slowly became night, I took my things and started my travel towards the shelter I'm staying at today.

Back at the shelter I opened the door, sat down on the bed and looked at the screen of my phone. As it turns out I could buy the recharger and use it like a normal smartphone, the only difference being the connection with X I have and the new App showing my character sheet.

Sometimes the character sheet updates on itself, showing my recovered willpower points or my health track slowly healing itself. Normally it would have been already healed my injuries but with this Hobo lifestyle I'm living right now I don't get the full bed rest and proper medicine, still in a few days I should be done.

"What's this 'rank' in my character sheet X", I typed the message hoping to not wake up anybody.

**'Oh, it's just a measurement for my own keeping.'**

**'Basically it keeps tracks of how many Dice you've gotten so far and how far you are from getting a Special Die.'**

"When I can get the Special Die then?"

**'When you hit A rank you will be able to perform the necessary quest. Until then just keep doing quests like a good little p- Dicer.'**

"Alright then, good night X".

Putting the phone back into my bag, I closed it and put it on the bed to use as a pillow.

A few minutes later as I was already dozing off, the cellphone vibrated under my head, the new signal for getting new messages and thus new quests from X.

**'Find the hideout of the kidnappers.'**

**'Reward: 2 dice. Accept quest? Y/N'**

**'Distract the kidnappers to enter the hideout.'**

**'Reward: 3 dice. Accept quest? Y/N'**

**'Take the girl back to safety.'**

**'Reward: 3 dice. Accept quest? Y/N'**

I accepted the quest immediately and jumped from the bed in order to get ready. This being one of X's harder quests, I had perform something out of the blue with little to no information, and considering this particular quest involves some innocent I had to act quickly.

But first I need to improve myself to find out what the hell is going on.

_Strength 3 - 4: 12xp_

_Perception 4 - 5: 16xp_

_Martial Arts 4 - 5: 8xp_

_Awareness 4 - 5: 8xp_

_Athletics 3 - 4: 6xp_

_Dodge 3 - 4: 6xp_

_Stealth 0 - 3: 9xp_

_Investigation 4 - 5: 8xp_

Should be more than enough to let me find and infiltrate this place.

~~O~~

"Do you know anything suspicious that happened recently? I'm working on a disappearance case and it would be wonderful to gain some news about the girl." The person I asked was one of the many I had done so in the past hour. So far I had found nothing, but then again I had no idea about the girl's appearance or even name.

I had almost lost hope when I overhead someone talking about some strange fellows in a black sedan that passed some time ago, and apparently with a young girl in the back making a fuss.

"Do you know where that sedan might have gone? I'm trying to find the girl and verify if she's alright."

"I don't know, my memory isn't what it was before…"

I pulled out a small stack of cash, enough to refresh someone's memory and make me much poorer. "The information better be good, you're toying with a life right now."

"It is," he said while taking the money, "The car went north a ways, where there's a bunch of abandoned factories and other buildings. It might take a while but if you are patient you might be able to find them."

I nodded before going after the place. I knew roughly where it was, and I prayed I could get there in time before they moved somewhere else or did something to the girl.

~~O~~

I jumped through the last rooftop, my frankly supernatural jumping ability coming in rather handy right now to give me the necessary high ground to search for my objective. It didn't take long to the kidnappers' hideout, after all, what else would a group of men wearing suits be doing in a dirty place like this?

Jumping down I heard some of them talking, so I pressed myself to the walls to better listen.

"... let her get away." Said one to the radio. I could barely make out the response, but it appeared that this was a temporary hideout before meeting with another group and getting her further away from this city.

With a flash of light I quickly took the dice and rolled them, getting a 9 total before pocketing them. Luckily nobody saw me, and I retreated for now in order to figure out what to do.

Using my newfound stealth skills I could easily infiltrate the place, but having a good distraction beforehand would also be wond-

"What are you doing standing there?"

It was a good testament to my new skills that I didn't jump in fright but instead immediately turned around to the possible threat, muscles tensed for a fight, only to stop when I saw a blond girl in her early teens wearing twin pigtails. You could easily say she would grow up to be a beauty from the curves she already had and her clean, cute face.

Fortunately my hesitation only lasted for a few seconds, and with lightning speed I took her aside and placed my hand on her mouth.

"Shhh!" I tried to be as silent as possible, but I was meeting with resistance. Rather strong resistance at that. "Don't yell! I'm trying to enter that building to rescue someone."

At this she stopped struggling, just in time since I doubt I could have held her for much longer without injuring her, and nodded. I took my hand out of her mouth but she bit it before it was safely away.

I grit my teeth, preventing the kidnappers to hear me, before the girl stood up and carefully looked from our hiding position. "What a great coincidence, I'm also here to rescue my maid."

I looked at her once more. Her constitution was almost waif-like, without any muscles showing. Her clothing was simply a black sleeveless shirt with detachable sleeves, black pants and boots and a thin sword in her right hand she most certain hadn't had previously.

"You're a mage, aren't you?" It was more an statement of fact than an accusation.

"How did you know that?" She demanded, her voice rising from the whispers.

Again I took a good look at her posture and eyes. Firm, striking blue eyes and an overall aggressive, confident stance. She couldn't be older than thirteen, fourteen at best, and I also hadn't found anybody else near here that wasn't a kidnapper or us. She also didn't have any communication gear I could see on her, and judging from the way she approached me there was only one conclusion to make.

"I will tell you later but first WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

"Wh - aaaatttt!"

As she turned her head I pushed her in a way that ensured she would take several paces forward, right into the field of vision of the kidnappers, and once more I took the flashing dice immediately and rolled them for a measly 8 points.

Before she could look back at me I was already gone, ready to infiltrate the place.

If the girl wanted to storm the place headfirst without backup and without a plan other than 'beat them up really hard' she can be put to use as MY backup, even if she didn't agree to it beforehand.

Besides I was going to do her job, she will probably forgive me for my earlier lack of tact.

~~O~~

I leaped forward, grabbing the watchman from behind into a chokehold while dragging him to a darker area. He had a radio, meaning eventually people will call him, so I need to be fast.

Searching all of the rooms in the place took a little while, but with Little Miss Mage at the front drawing heat I could take my time making sure to be stealthy.

Turning into another corner I listened hard and heard some whimpering sounds ahead. A few steps further I was behind a half opened door. "Better close it while Ramirez is away."

Getting close to the door I waited one, two seconds before sensing someone getting close to the door. With a mighty push I slammed it into somebody's nose before quickly circling the door, hitting the kidnapper in the back of his leg and sending a powerful punch to his face, slamming him into the ground with much prejudice.

With one of the kidnappers unconscious on the ground I made sure to dodge the shots from the other black suit in the room, the bullets going far away as I tumbled and rolled around the place, using the body of his fallen comrade as a shield of sorts.

Once I regained my balance I charged quickly at the man, sending a powerful kick at his midsection before ending him with a knee to his face, his head hit the wall and the kidnapper slowly slid to the ground.

With haste I took off the bindings on the girl wearing a maid outfit, her face showing she was still a little out of herself. "Fuee~ wha, what?"

"I came here to save you," I said while grabbing her and putting her on my shoulder, "It'll be a little uncomfortable, but bear with me for a little while alright?"

Without waiting for her reply I started my run back to the entrance I had found. It took me some time since I was carrying an extra burden, but I managed to jump the wall and get out of the building quickly.

Outside I started to run away as fast as I was allowed until I found a good hiding spot. By that time the girl had already regained her bearings.

"W- what happened? Where I am?"

"I rescued you from the kidnappers, but I need to go back and help the other girl left there?"

"Eh? Mistress Erica is back there?"

I turned around and saw a shadow zooming in on our position, and with a single leap going through several dozen meters forwards, landing softly on the ground.

She also pointed her sword straight at my neck a few centimeters away.

"Looks like you're fine." I said without moving, and it was even true. While she was panting a bit from exertion she had no trace of harm on her or her clothes. To be honest if I hadn't heard the gunshots and yells outside I would have thought she had just ran away or been captured. I'm glad my initial assessment of the situation was right.

"You insufferable man!" Unfortunately the girl, Erica by the looks of it, didn't agree with my course of action. "Why did you do that!?"

"Before you continue with that line of inquiry, please tell me, while looking me in the eyes, and in the eyes of the girl I just rescued and who happens to be your maid: did you rescue plan involve fighting the kidnappers upfront and without backup?"

She flinched a little, cheeks tinting at my accusation and all but answering my question. "I thought you would do fine against the kidnappers, you're a mage after all. If you didn't have a plan then you might as well work as part of my plan, don't you think?"

"I did have a plan!" She yelled back while pointing her sword further towards my throat, making me take a step back. "But it was rudely ruined by you!"

"Alright, I see I was an ass about that earlier," I had to admit, things would probably have proceeded roughly the same way if I had informed her beforehand. "It was childish of me to throw you into the lion's den like that. I apologize."

The sword retreated a few centimeters back this time, but she was still visibly upset at what I did. "You could also hit me?"

That made her react, and her expression changed to a thoughtful one before a fist came impacting with my face. Twisting it just enough to avoid breaking my nose I felt the hit coming squarely in my jaw.

Did I mention she hit me with the hilt of the sword? Because she did, and it hurt like hell.

"Are you satisf-," another blow came, this time to my midsection, doubling me over, and I felt a kick towards my face sending me backwards with blood trailing behind. I blocked the next two follow up attacks, a bit shaken from the unexpected assault.

"Hey! What gives!"

"I'm hitting you." She had a smug smile while saying that. "I must say I find it rather satisfying, and maybe after ten or twenty blows I will find it in myself to forgive you."

"You came back without a single wound!"

"No thanks to you!"

I was about to charge at the little bitch when suddenly the formerly kidnapped girl put herself between us. "Please stop! Both of you."

We both paused mid-run, tension flaring before I stood up in a relaxed position signaling I wouldn't fight anymore but was still ready enough to dodge or parry her attacks. She turned to her mistress and soon enough the brat's was expression mollified, but she still held her sword at ready.

She turned once more at me before coming closer and giving me a hug. "This is for saving me", she said with a sigh before taking a step back and slapping me, "and this is for endangering my mistress."

I made a show at being hurt by her, which somehow it kind of did, "That hurt more than your employer's blows".

"I can work on that if you want," the blond girl said behind her maid.

"Mistress Erica! Please, let's just go home."

"Will you be alright with her?" I interrupted the two one last time.

"Yes." Came the double reply. I nodded and crouched, right in time for the flash of light to appear and three dice appeared almost in my hand. A quick grab and roll later netted me 16 points.

"What was that?" Asked the blond mage and I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Nothing that'll interest you. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Before I could go a hand grabbed me on the sleeve. "Please wait, I didn't even catch your name after helping me!"

"Some people call me Ryu, or Ryuan Abandonato to be more exact," I replied with a little nod, "and what's yours?"

"My name is Arianna Hayame Arialdi, Mr. Abandonaldo." Hayame? That's Japanese isn't it? We both looked at the blond girl, and somehow she puffed her chest.

"I am Erica Blandelli, Knight of the Copper-Black Cross!"

"Charmed," was my dry reply. I gave a polite nod to the ladies and went back to finding some place to sleep today.

~~O~~

"... I'm doing relatively fine right now, thanks for asking." I said to Lucretia over the line.

"Still, I worry about you," came her reply from the phone. "Can't have all my effort in healing you back to shape go to waste, can I?"

I chuckled at that. "Sure. How are things on your front? Did you manage to find a replacement for me?"

"I don't really need someone to clean and cook for me, one of the perks of being a witch is that I can enchant the place to be self-cleaning, and I like cooking you know? I did have that kitchen fully stocked for a reason, after all."

"Makes sense," I nodded. "Maybe one day I'll have the opportunity to eat your cooking, I'll wait for it eagerly."

A small chuckle came over the line. "Flattery will get you nowhere. Well, actually it will but you need to sharpen your skills on that front first. Anyway, why don't you turn to the left for a bit?"

"Eh?" I immediately turned left to stare right at a dove flapping its wings, a letter of sorts on its foot. "Is that dove your doing?"

"One of my familiars, yes. With her is a letter of recommendation to one of the mage associations nearby. You're currently in Milan, right?"

Taking the dove into my hand I picked up the letter, and sure enough it had neat handwriting with Miss Lucretia's name on it.

"I am but, why give me a letter of recommendation now? Is something wrong?"

"A little bird told me you trashed two Sardinian magi a few weeks ago, and while I don't hold the measures you took against you, eventually retaliation will come knocking on your door. Being affiliated with one of Italy's mage associations will prevent most overt action against you, since no organization likes having their members being attacked. It would set a bad precedent, after all."

I winced, the sight of the guy being bitten and devoured by the shark coming back to the front of my mind. Most of the time I can use the techniques I 'learned' to avoid thinking much about it, but sometimes it slips past my control. With a few deep breaths I regained my center and went back to what Lucretia told me.

"I really appreciate what you're doing for me. Is there anything, anything at all, I can do to pay you back for this? After all, you could say you're saving my life again by preventing people without much sense coming after my hide."

Her voice lost most of the jovial tone in it as she replied. "I actually do want you to do something for me this time. One of the associations in the country is affiliated with the Campione known as Sasha Dejanstahl Voban, and I'm sure some of the other organizations will either cave in and associate themselves with him or try something foolish enough to create yet another problem for me to handle. I want you to keep watch on one of those organizations for me."

"I see," I said, even though I didn't agree with her initial assessment of my ability to keep watch on the organization, "I'll see what I can do, and while I promise to do my best I'm not entirely sure of my chances of success."

The voice from behind the phone was firm, but somewhat warm. "Don't underestimate your abilities so much. I don't know much about your status as a Dicer, but I can bet it made you unusually strong and knowledgeable. At the very least you can learn the necessary skills on demand, can't you?"

"Heh, yeah, you're right." Steeling myself, I nodded. "Alright, once I get in I will call you back."

"Alright. Just so you know, if the heads of the organization do something stupid, many innocents might die a meaningless, torturous death for a great risk with low possibility of returns. No pressure though." She finally said and with a click the call was turned off.

"Yeah", I muttered to myself while taking a bite of my lunch, "No pressure."

~~O~~

"Hello", I said at the information counter, "Can I talk to the person in charge of this place?"

The attendant looked up from her work and greeted me with an all-too-false smile. "Yes, what is your business here?"

I showed the recommendation letter to her. "I wanted to affiliate myself with this organization and have a recommendation letter from Lucretia Zola."

She eyed me, even sniffed a little. How rude! I made sure to clean myself up before coming here, or at least as much as I could with the few clothes I had.

"I'm sure you have," she said with a condescending tone, "Please wait while I check this with my superiors."

I let out a long-suffering sigh before taking a seat. A few minutes passed, which became an hour, and then an hour became hours. I was already feeling irritated when someone came from the front door.

"Ah~ I'm late late late! Why did I have to forget today's classes out of all days!"

A blur passed by and I caught the flicker of something familiar, but what was it? It was at the tip of my tongue, something that started with an A…

"Mr. Abandonato?" I looked up and saw the attendant. "Please come with me."

I followed her into a room with a few couches and a table, all in an old style with the furniture looking both simple and expensive. "Two Knights will come and interview you, so please wait here for a bit."

Nodding at her, I sat on the couch and waited some more. This time it only took a few minutes before two people came in. One of them was a man in his late thirties/early forties with brown graying hair and a mustache. He was wearing a brown suit with a white necktie and for the most part looked more like a businessman than a warrior or magus.

The other one was a blonde girl with twin ribbons in her hair, wearing a red dress and a white garment on her neck with a blue gemstone hanging around it. As our eyes meet she couldn't help but point her painted nail at me.

"YOU!"

"Me." I answered dryly, certain that this will be a -wonderful- start.

"What are you doing here?" The girl in front of me said through gritted teeth, though I'm sure she'd prefer to be biting my head off at this point.

"Lucretia Zola thought it was a good idea for me to join a mage's association and she indicated this one in the country." I stated with a calm tone, not being visibly bothered by her blatant hostility.

"Why didn't you think about joining somewhere else?" She said calmer this time, her tone ice cold. "In another country to be more exact? Perhaps in another continent?"

"Miss Brandelli," said the older knight, "is something wrong we should know about?"

"I, no, I'm fine. Everything's fine. Right, introductions." She turned to me, her posture a textbook perfect case of barely contained hostility masked behind ironclad control. I could almost feel how she wanted to strangle me at this time. "My name is Erica Brandelli and this is Ricardo Sotto, we're both Knights of the Black-Copper Cross association and will interview you today." It was a testament to her ability that she could say all of that in a professional tone even at this age. Clearly she's a very talented prodigy. "As a potential associate we need to know more about you and your abilities."

I paused for a moment, thinking it over and unfortunately there's no way to avoid telling at least part of the truth. This is mostly for Lucretia's sake, after all. "I have access to methods to learn certain subjects a lightning-fast pace if I put my mind to it, but I'm not willing to teach this method to others at the moment". It was just an instant but I could clearly see the surprise on the older man before he schooled himself. It's interesting that he believed me without visible proof, but perhaps my letter of introduction had something to do with it. "As of right now I can only learn thaumaturgy as a side effect of this method, but thaumaturgy in itself can be learned at very fast speed."

"How fast can you learn?" came the polite question from the girl, a hint of curiosity escaping on her voice.

Again I paused and did a quick math in my head. With roughly five to seven dice per week of intense questing I have between 17,5 ~ 24,5 points to expend. "In a week on subjects I never encountered before I can gain enough proficiency to work professionally as a veteran in said subject, and with some degree of luck I can gain the skill and training of a well renowned expert nationwide. Pushing that luck a little bit, I can attain a certain degree of mastery that only focused experts can surpass me. Of course, this prowess is limited by my own physical and mental limitations, but even those I can somewhat push to higher levels faster than normal. What would take years or even decades to attain can be within my reach in months or weeks depending on my dedication."

"That's a very bold claim", the girl said without missing a beat, probably dismissing my claims outright or at least wishing very hard for me to be a liar. "Do you have some kind of proof for those claims?"

"Well, at the moment I specialized in martial arts and investigative works, but I'm also good at overall physical activities like sports and dodging."

"Dodging?" Asked the man for the first time, "how does that work? Isn't that part of your martial arts training?"

"More than that actually. Simply put, so long as I can see you I'm confident that I could dodge your attack. For the most part it can be done with melee attacks, but ranged ones are also included. To be honest, I could even dodge bullets, not after they're fired of course but rather I can stay clear from a weapon's target zone. After all, whoever aims the thing is only human after all."

"Would you be willing for us to test that claim?" The eyes of the girl where shining, and I'd bet my left nut she's more than willing to fire a gun at me, or something worse at that.

"Of course, but understand that true weapons experts can still hit me, if not nearly as easy as other targets. My dodging skill only ensures that at least seventy five percent of anyone who tries to shoot me will be more likely to miss than hit. I'm also not exactly immune to heavy fire, so bring in enough rate of fire and I won't perform much better than your average Joe."

"But you claim that's simply a skill, and not a magical augmentation?"

I nodded and the man placed a hand on his chin, "That's a rare skill to have, and one powerful at that. Even those of Knight rank can't boast to be simply that good at evasion and must bridge the gap between possible and impossible with enhanced physical attributes and other magical aid."

At this Erica's left eye twitched, probably remembering our previous encounter.

"But what about your magical abilities? Aside from quick learning what else can do?"

"Well, you see", I tried not to squirm too much, "the thing is the only thaumaturgical procedure I've really mastered right now is how to see magical energy."

They both blinked at the same time.

"It's not like I was planning to enter an association right now, but I simply couldn't refuse a favor from Miss Zola. If I had some time I could learn and take a few thaumaturgical degrees but I thought coming here right away was a better idea."

"So," Erica said very slowly, "Magically speaking you know only a cantrip to see magical energy?"

"Yes." I answered promptly. I could have tried to bend the truth, but they would certainly ask for proof eventually.

"Denied," came the immediate, cheerful reply from Erica, "Right now we aren't taking apprentices not sponsored by another member of the association, so in the name of the Black-Copper Cross please have a good day."

She made to stand up before being held back by the senior knight. "Erica, I don't know what you have against this man but…" He took Lucretia's recommendation and handled it to her, "just take a look".

She quickly took the letter and started reading, her reading speed slowing as she came to a certain passage.

"Are you kidding me? Because if this is some kind of prank it's a very mean, thoughtless one. It must be, after all it's my first time performing official bureaucratic duties as a Knight."

"I'm very serious, Knight Erica," the man said with steel, "And so is the person who wrote this letter."

Suddenly Erica's face fell, knowing she had to induct me into their ranks, like it or not.

I'd read the letter, and aside from the official pleasantries and (false) praise of my abilities and potential as a mage, she also included a small too-long don't-read section in it.

It basically read as "take him into your ranks, or else."

I'm fairly sure most, if not all of my good Karma is being eaten away by being in the good graces of that woman. I also suspect she knows that and will milk it eventually for all it's worth.

~~O~~

"Are you sure you want to test him yourself, Miss Erica?"

The other Knight was looking at both of us, his face an implacable blank expression as he watched both of us perform some light warm up exercises.

"Certainly. If his claims are to be believed at all then it's only obvious for him to be tested."

That earned a head shake from Sotto, who let out a long suffering sigh as if expecting her next couple of actions and dreading it. When he caught sight of me he immediately schooled his features, probably not wanting to be seen as unprofessional.

"Suit yourself then. Are you both ready?" We both nodded, neither of us taking the eyes from each other.

Normally this sight would be considered ridiculous, with me looking serious at the smaller and lighter kid in front of me, both of us with full intention to go all out in this fight. Then again, the girl in question is considered a Knight, an accomplished rank in this organization.

I knew she was strong enough to deal with the kidnappers by herself while she only got the result of my stealth skills during her maid's rescue. As such I held, slightly, the information advantage and I wanted to milk it for all it's worth.

"Ready? Fight!"

Just as he said that we both exploded into motion, but my reaction was slightly faster than her and I closed the distance between us lightning fast with a spear punch towards her solar plexus. The attack hit true, but something was off when I felt the impact before Erica was throw a few paces backyards. She tried to hid a wince when she breathed, but it was otherwise in a much better state than someone of her weight class had any right to be.

I couldn't help my big mouth. "I'm impressed, you managed to use magic in that small moment to protect yourself."

"That's," she said in between heavy breathing, "my line. Are you really not using any magical augmentation? If so, you've shown me that I have a lot to learn and train to catch up. For that you have my sincerest thanks."

"You're welcome," I replied, ready to take whatever she had in store this time, "so long as after this you forget about the earlier incident between us."

At this her eyes sparkled with mirth. "Oh, but if you wish that then perhaps I need to up this test to higher standards."

"Do you have a good enough healer on hand in case of injuries?"

She looked at Mr. Sotto, who palmed his face before nodding. "We can arrange for that after the test."

"Alright", I said, already regretting my next few words but unable to stop myself, "Do your worst."

"Gladly." She said with glee before kneeling down in a prayer position.

"Come, lion of steel. The one carrying the spirit of the lion, the steel that carries the essence of battle! Respond to my hand and voice! Your name is Cuore di Leone... The warrior inheriting the name of the lion-hearted king! The knight Erica Blandelli swears thus, I will return your loyalty with valor and chivalry!"

A magic circle of sorts appeared in front of her and I could see a steel lion's head form on the front. With a quick dash she grabbed something from the lion's mouth before turning with red sparks of light trailing behind, and a rapier appears in her hands. "With this I can truly show my all to you. That is, if you are up to it."

"You are aware that to fight against weapons unarmed I need to be quite a few ranks more skilled than you, and I'm likely to be severely injured afterwards regardless, right?"

"That's what the healers are for."

"Just checking," I said with a grimace.

With this last remark we both went back to our combat stances. I still had the advantage of speed for the moment and I took the time to carefully study my opponent. With a rapier style weapon she would attack with thrusts and the occasional slash when closer to me. There's also the magical enhancements to take care off.

Why did I agree to do this again? There was no Dice involved, or a life or death matter at hand either.

Of course, there's the prospect of getting the kid to forgive me for my earlier actions. All for the small, small price of some maiming. Joy.

Acting quickly, I took off my jacket and folded it around my left arm to act as an improvised shield. It would have been better against slashing weapons such as a razor or a knife, but I had to work with what I had.

Just as I finished that she came forward, stabbing once, twice in rapid succession at frightening speed. Thinking quickly, I took off one of my shoes and threw it at her face, making her tilt her aim just so, and I managed to dodge the first attack while taking a glancing hit on my right shoulder.

This time her reaction was quicker since her weapon was already on guard, and I threw my improvised shield forwards, unraveling itself while being pierced by my enemy weapon, but I managed to roll the fabric along the blade and completely deflected her next attack, throwing off her aim for the next attack and only hitting me on the right shoulder this time.

I was already bleeding and tired from this, and knew that my lack of real injuries came from the girl in front of me being too overconfident with her weapon in hand to use her full magical enhancements. She wanted this to last, I could see it in her eyes.

That's why I needed to do something stupid, something unexpected.

Something painful as fuck.

I study her for a few moments before she came after me again. Steeling my resolve, this time I let her pierce my hand, which allowed me to dodge her piercing blow to my head. Sliding my hand towards her guard I could see I had caught her off guard, and I painfully yanked it to the side, leaving her wide open.

Grabbing her by the throat, I slammed her onto the ground hard with a throw and started to squeeze her neck with my hand. If I'm fast enough she will lose consciousness quickly for me t-

With a yell of pain I let go of her neck and clutched my left hand. Taking away the jacket I could see she bisected my hand, two fingers to a side and three fingers to another, a pool of blood forming on the ground.

She wasn't much better herself, taking deep breaths and the mark of my hand still glowing red on her neck. Still she managed to stand up slowly and pointed her weapon at me.

"I yield," I said between gritted teeth, "That was my best shot at defeating you. I've got nothing left."

She nodded at me and looked pleased with herself. "We can arrange for the healers to heal your wounds, Mr. Abandonato, but it will cost you."

What?

"Why? Weren't you supposed to provide with healers for this sort of thing?"

"Normally yes, but not everyone goes as far as to bisect his own hand in a spar. You'll need something stronger than what's normally offered."

"That was you!" I said trying not to yell in pain at the person still pointing a weapon at my face.

"I can hardly be responsible for my actions when you went ahead with such violent behavior. You could have simply yielded earlier, but instead decided to go forward and fight me at my best even when you knew it wasn't possible to win."

My eyes narrowed at what she said but I remained silent. In return she let out a small smile I think she believes is gracious, or devious as it is.

"But since it was by my hand you were injured I can help you cover the costs. You would simply be indebted to me for a while. What do you think?"

Some more blood poured from my hand, the pool quickly reaching my feet. "I accept your gracious offer," I intoned dead pan, but unable to fully say no at this point.

"Wonderful! Sotto can show you to the infirmary, I need to go and wash up." She turned to leave but I stopped her.

"Are you satisfied now, or do you need more?" I asked, while crudely bandaging my maimed hand.

"Perhaps, so long as previous circumstances never happen again."

"They won't."

"Then there's nothing more to talk about this business, it's well and over now. Shouldn't you be going? I don't want you to bleed all over here."

With the last word, she turned and left.

While I followed Mr. Sotto I couldn't help but frown at my shortcomings in this fight. While trying to fight against someone with a blade unarmed is a problem, fighting against a mage with a weapon nears the impossible unless I catch them off guard or they're particularly stupid.

The painful throbs from my hand, the two pierced wounds on my shoulders and the pool of blood on the ground from earlier are clear marks about the consequences of such a fight. I was too conceited from my early victories and too overconfident in my abilities.

That's a mistake I can't make twice.

* * *

><p><strong>Updated 278/2014**


	6. Chapter 6

As I walked through the building, I couldn't help but look at my hand, still impressed with the work of the healing potion. Foul taste aside it managed to heal my hand perfectly, leaving only a thin white mark as a testament of my stupidity.

Still, I had no idea why I was being called to the director's office right now. Mr. Sotto was oddly silent about the whole ordeal, only a few words of 'damn brat' and 'suicidal fool' escaping from his mouth occasionally. All in all it felt like he wanted to be as far away from both me and Erica as humanly possible after our 'introductory spar'. Can't blame him, though I think I'll need to work on my personal skills, at least enough so that I'm not totally inept like right now.

Three turns and two sets of stairs later I'm awaiting outside the director's office. I politely knock on the door three times before it opens inwards. Taking that as an invitation I step inside, idly noting that Sotto already scurried out of here. Am I in that much trouble?

"So, you're the one that Lucretia Zola speaks so highly of?" It was a deep, firm voice from the man in front of me. He's about thirty, thirty three years old from his appearance, face clean-shaven and sharp eyes that somehow remind me of someone else. "You don't look like much, to be honest."

"I'm of the same opinion, if I'm honest with myself," I state while looking him in the eyes, "If she asked me to join your organization a few months later perhaps I would have made a better first impression."

"Ah yes, the 'test spar'", he said hesitating only for a moment, perhaps to hide a grimace, "we will talk about that later, but first I wanted to hear from you."

Somehow his expression became even more grave than before. "Why are you here?"

I paused for a moment to think it through, and decided to tell the truth. "Basically Lucretia has hopes for me to climb your organization's ladder and become influential enough to curb your group from doing something awfully stupid like summoning an Heretic God in order possibly create a Campione in a 'controlled' environment."

"I… see." He said, blinking once, "I can assume that other organizations asked for her help in that matter?"

I nodded. "Two guys from another organization came to her house a few weeks ago asking for her help, which she promptly refused, of course."

"Of course. Still I can see why she would want to plant someone she knows in one of the seven organizations in Italy, though I wonder what she plans to do with the other six."

"Well, to be honest she's using that as an excuse to help me. Somehow, someway I managed to worm myself into her good graces. The least I can do is to rise on the ranks of this place and prevent someone from unleashing Cthulhu by accident."

"I assure you there's no such thing as Cthulhu," he says rather firmly. Too firmly.

"Someone already tried it, didn't they?"

He just stays silent, the pause becoming rather awkward after a little while.

"So, if that's out of the way and you're apparently alright with it," he nodded, "let's talk about the 'spar', I believe that wasn't exactly normal behavior for your Knights?"

"Erica's a bit… willful when she sets her mind on something, though I have no idea where she came by her apparaent dislike from you, since she isn't willing to talk," his gaze loomed on me, and somehow I felt much smaller under his scrutiny, "Is that something I should know about?"

Quickly switching my breathing pattern I centered myself before replying. "It's not my story to tell. If she isn't talking, I'll respect her decision."

"I see." He says dryly before clasping his hands in front of him in a good 'Gendo Ikari' pose, only lacking the sunglasses and gloves, but keeping the thick atmosphere on the same level. "Well, it's not a behavior acceptable for either a Knight or an Initiate so both of you will be punished while she will foot the entire bill for both of your recoveries."

Thank whatever benign divine forces are at play here. At nearly ten thousand euros total I could live like a king with my current lifestyle. Yet another thing I'm deeply indebted to Lucretia for.

"You said we'll both be punished?"

"You did maim yourself in hopes of winning a mere spar you could have yielded earlier," he pointed out, "That sort of foolish behavior is not something we want to encourage. There's a thin line between bravery and foolishness, after all."

"And what will this punishment be?"

"Something simple, repetitive and boring should do."

~~O~~

"It's not everyday I can pop the punishment cherry of two mages in a single day," said the portly man dressed as a kitchen chef who gave us two small knives, "Make yourselves useful and start peeling those vegetables! Then later you will help with serving food and cleaning this place!"

"Yes, sir," came our chorus. Erica took her own knife and went as far away from me as she could.

Sighing I took my own knife and started peeling the potato.

~~O~~

With a sigh I fell down on my new bed, dead tired from today's work.

After being initiated into the organization I immediately found out they had dorms for some of the members. All it took was to enroll in the beginner classes like any good apprentice should, attend the classes and perform considerably well on both the practical and theoretical subjects.

It's like going to college again.

Another sigh and I clamp down on the thoughts of my previous life. This time it will work out in the end, or at least I will make damn sure to make it work!

Yet looking at my cellphone I can't help but have a few doubts. "X, don't you think these quests are a bit… one-track minded lately?"

**'What's this, Mister "I want more quests EEEEXXXXX~"?'**

**'Having second thoughts? But the quests I gave you were so easy!'**

**'How come a grown man like you is having trouble with them?'**

It's because I'm a grown man that I'm having trouble with those quests. The tamest right now being 'stalk Erica through the campus' and going up from there in the creepiness factor, always targeting that girl.

I still performed some of the quests though, earning a meager 5 points with a succession of bad rolls and low rewards.

**'Don't question your GM, lest he stops giving quests altogether. ):/ '**

**'But I see your point, going after that girl has run its due course.'**

**'I will give you some different quests, but later.'**

I let out a heavy sigh, thanking whatever power that's looking out for me. Then again that entity must be X himself.

Closing my eyes for a moment I let myself doze off for a little while until the alarm for my cellphone rang, indicating I had to go to classes.

With a last sigh I stood up, ready to learn more about magic.

~~O~~

"You shouldn't be here", came one voice from the corner ahead, and once I turned I saw a small group trying to bully a strangely familiar girl. "You barely have any talent, why do you even bother coming here? You should stick to cleaning the floors," one of the bullies spat on the ground and grabbed her head, "Here, let me help."

Immediately the cellphone vibrated indicating I had received a new quest.

**'Save the girl from the bullies.'**

**'Quest reward: 2 dice.**

**'Bonus: Take down all bullies. Bonus reward: 1 dice.'**

**'Accept quest? Y/N'**

I frowned and took a look at the situation. The bullies didn't seem tough and weren't that many so I could probably take them down easily. What was irregular about the situation was the quest itself. X rarely gave me quests for things I would normally do by myself.

Then again I had to ask myself, would I help in this situation regardless? The answer easily came as yes, since I had the power to do so now. Perhaps if I didn't have enough power I would call someone else to help intervene, but right now?

With a simple click I accepted the quest and quickly I was right behind the guy grabbing the girl.

"Wh-" that was as far as I let him talk before I grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall, making him dizzy from the impact.

"Who do you think you ar-" the next bully took a jab to his throat, stopping his talk and leaving him grasping for breath. I didn't let the other react, and with a simple leg sweep there were two more morons on the ground.

"Next time try to pick on someone that fights back."

They all stood up with varying levels of damage but otherwise not moving away. I saw that a few of them still had fight in their eyes, but it lasted only for a moment before they decided against attacking. "This isn't over," one of them said before they all backed away to lick their wounds.

Turning at the bullied girl I found out why she looked familiar.

"You're Erica's maid, Arianna, right?"

She blinked, still overwhelmed by my fast assault on her bullies, but quickly broke into to a smile. "And you're Mr. Abandonato! Thank you for helping me again! You're a member of the association?"

"I entered a few days back," I said while crouching and certainly enough the dice appeared in a flash of light near Arianna's feet, which I rolled immediately as usual. I saw her blink at my actions and begin to open her mouth when I beat her to it. "Who where they, and why did they do something like that?"

She winced at my question, any curiosity about my Dice quickly forgotten. "I'm… not really good with magic. I can barely perform the introductory exercises, even after training in magic for almost a year."

"Well, magic is supposed to be hard," I told her. "Taking years to decades to master. It's not like you can perform wonders with just a year of training."

She winced at that, muttering something about her mistress.

I sighed before patting her on the shoulder. "I'm sure your master is far outside the norm with her talent. Why don't we forget about this and the high school rejects and get on with class?"

She nodded timidly and soon we arrived at the class. Inside there were quite a few apprentices of all ages ranging from young kids to teenagers, with me being the oldest of the group save the teacher, a middle aged man with a balding head.

He was in the middle of a lecture when we arrived but he ignored us as we took our seats on the front.

He talked about the importance of Spellwords, incantations meant to synch your intent with the will of the world used to draw either energy from the ambient or to call aid from the gods, being extremely important to perform magic.

One of the kids on the back raised his hand. "Mr. Alexandro, is it possible to use magic without use of Spellwords?"

"Yes, it's possible though it's much harder. After all you will be using your own internal reserves of magical energy, and without the direct aid of the gods anything stronger than a cantrip will feel several orders of magnitude harder. Campione's excepted of course."

"What about thaumaturgy?" I raised my hand this time. "They also require incantations alongside material components and ritual behavior to work. Are they the same?"

The teacher sneered at my question, but answered anyway. "'Thaumaturgy' as you call it is a modern way to say 'gods worship'. The ritual behavior and incantations are akin to worshiping rituals or prayers practiced in the past, while the material components are the sacrifices to the divine powers. While it could be considered magic and it does require skill to perform correctly in order to have the prayers answered, to be considered a mage the modern practitioner needs to have a certain degree of innate power."

He turned and went back to the blackboard, writing the theory behind spellcasting, theory I'm deeply acquainted with, thank you Dice. Afterwards he made us take a few matches from his desk. "This is a small magical cantrip that allows you to tap into your power and perform the action to 'break' something."

A few minutes passed by and I looked at the other students, everyone concentrating on their tasks and soon I heard a few cheers from the younger students while most teenagers where more subdued on their accomplishments.

Taking the match I concentrated deep inside myself, taking deep, even breaths and slowing my heart rate, trying to feel something inside me for the first time. It was then that I felt it, a pool of… I can only say 'untapped potential' since it was what came to my mind at first.

"Wellspring of life, listen to my plea! Bend, snap, break. Flow power and listen to my command!"

The end result was… underwhelming. Nothing happened to the match, and while I could still feel my pool of Essence, my power was unwilling to be shaped and bent in any way or form. Looking at my side I also saw Arianna having difficulties with this cantrip, but at least her match was trying to snap itself, only lacking in power and direction.

Getting back to my match I set out to continue the exercise, but somehow I wasn't feeling confident about having any success today.

~~O~~

"So X, let's talk a bit. About this new addition to my character sheet I missed before, the rank."

**'What about it?'**

**'It just says how far ahead you are on the game, that's all.'**

**"What game X? I wasn't aware I was participating in any contest with anyone."**

**'This game we call life, of course!'**

**'While you haven't met another player yet, it doesn't mean they don't exist.'**

**'Being a B ranker means you are still a bit farther from getting to the juicy part of being a Dicer, but you're doing well for now.'**

"Juicy bit? You mean that at higher ranks I can unlock Essence?"

**'Beep! You're correct!'**

**'Applaud everyone, he really put his new perception abilities to use! =D'**

**'At A-rank you are allowed to request for a Special Quest to gain your Special Dice.'**

"And when do I get the A-rank?"

**'When you gather more dice, obviously. ¬¬'**

**'When you get there I'll tell you.'**

**'It's supposed to be a surprise after all.'**

That means doing more quests, even if they're questionable in nature.

Do I want more power?

Hell yes I want it.

How far I'm going to go for it, though?

… That's something I'm going to figure out, sooner or later.

~~O~~

Looking at my current character sheet,I knew I had to upgrade myself to properly perform the next quests. There's no way to do so otherwise, unless I suddenly become a social monster overnight but that would take far more points than I have right now.

I wanted to keep those points stashed for a while, but looks like I will need to invest them right away, however I need to be careful with it and optimize my expenses. A glance at the quests showed the one's currently assigned to me, I took a deep breath before letting out a long suffering sigh. There is really no easy way around this.

_Intelligence 2 - 3: 8xp_

_Larceny 0 - 4: 15xp_

_Stealth 3 - 4: 6xp_

_Craft 3 - 4: 6xp_

_(Air)_

_Presence 0 - 1: 3xp_

With that out of the way, it's time to gather the necessary materials for my next few 'pranks'. Getting up from my bed, I went after the alchemy section since they always have some spare metal lying around and a quick trip to the workshop of the building having me putting one of my new skills to use.

After a while someone came closer, a teenager boy previously working with a sword. He took a look at what I was doing and soon his curiosity was spiked. "What are you doing?"

"Making some simple tools", I answered not really bothering to look at his face.

"Can't you conjure them up if they're simple?"

"I think it's a waste of magic, besides I want them to last for more than a single use."

He almost grabbed one of my tools, but I slapped him on the hand before going any further. "They're made of metal but are rather delicate." I said firmly, grumbling to himself the kid went away before I could concentrate back to my things.

~~O~~

"So, is there anything you want help with?" I asked the portly chef, "I rather like cooking myself and I wouldn't mind help once in a while."

"Hmm", he said while twirling his mustache, "we don't need help most of the time, but I always wanted a few extra hand with cleaning."

I let the smile on my face crack a little, but I still keep going. "I'm no strange to cleaning even if it isn't my favorite part, just say when you want help and I will try to aid whenever I can."

"Are you free right now?" He said eyeing the closet with the cleaning supplies.

Taking a deep breath I nodded and we both went ahead towards the kitchen, Mario the chef placing a large hand over my shoulders, while at the same time I looked out for hidden cameras and such security measures.

Finding none of them I felt slightly more relaxed but still alert, ready to pick any details of the place and location of everything for my plan to come to fruition.

~~O~~

I had brought a dark blue tracksuit, dipping the rest of my funds basically dry but it would be useful for cases like this. Placing my steps carefully, I walked as silently as I could hiding myself from the few security guards paroling the building.

Most of the mystical defenses are set against intruders, but are fairly light against inside with my magical seeing procedure in place and improved stealth ability, I could navigate through the most glaringly obvious defenses with ease and the more subtler ones with certainty, if with a bit more caution.

My target in place. I took one of my new tools and put it on the lock trying to open it without making it obvious it wasn't done by a key. Although with my new-found larceny and stealth ability, I managed to plan this infiltration job fairly competently moreover the lack of security personal after my hide a testament to that fact.

Once inside the kitchen, I went straight into my target and picked everything in the quest list.

With a sigh. I placed the oil on the ground in the middle of the corridor while I went back to carry the other objects on the paltry to their new destinations.

Please forgive me Mario!

~~O~~

"Who the hell did this!" I heard the yell, when I came towards the kitchen.

As predicted the Chef was in a foul mood over the latest prank. Apparently the kitchen has a lot of history being pranked in the past.

I stayed quiet and nodded when Mario talked with me, due to not really trusting my voice even after I brought a single point of presence to not hideously fail at human interaction as I had been doing for a while. It was convenient that 'nod and smile' was one of the simplest but most effective way to go through this ordeal.

'Switch the salt with sugar in the kitchens', 'ACCIDENTALLY drop a can of oil on the kitchen floor', 'ACCIDENTALLY drop some of the paltry contents on the floor' and currently the 'Clean up your mess on the kitchen without being discovered', done.

With this I have gained 38 points but I still need more.

~~O~~

I sneezed into my trusty handkerchief, feeling the cold from yesterday. I had to do the laundry at night to clean up after my recent 'quest.' Karma's probably catching up with me right now.

Looking at my character sheet, there are a few things that I want to change right now, if only to stop being hopelessly horrible at it. I quickly discovered that with abilities with a rating of zero, not only I was bad at it, but I was really BAD at it as if never practicing that ability made me hopelessly flail around like a blind idiot, who knew?

Strange how things changed, back then I wasn't all that concerned with being bad in one (or two, or three or fifteen) different things, but now I can at least become passably good at everything with a little investment.

Taking a look at my character sheet I tapped my fingers on the screen, not really knowing what to raise right now. My combat abilities are very good as they are, but I found out that works only against one-on-one or few-against-one. I could deal with up to four people at the same time, but even my prodigious ability failed under larger numbers. I also didn't have any form of ranged ability, and while it still won't hurt me for now, it'll certainly come back to bite me in the ass sooner or later.

I could keep them in reserve and improve them on the spot when I need them, but that has the risk of someone finding out about X, or at least becoming suspicious about me taking my cellphone out in the middle of a crisis.

With a sigh I opened the character sheet app, undecided about what to do. In the end I decided to improve myself based on what I'm lacking right now, and there are three wide areas I haven't spent too many points on yet. It was difficult to decide, but in the end it'll be for the best.

_Throw 0 - 3: 9xp_

_War 0 - 3: 9xp_

_War - Solo 0 - 2: 6xp_

_Resistance 0 - 2: 5xp_

_Survival 0 -2: 5xp_

_Lore 1 - 3: 6xp_

_Art of Warding and Exorcism, 1st Degree: 5xp_

I nodded at the distribution, this should cover most parts I missed before, making me passably competent in them at the very least.

With that done, I went to plan out how to perform my next quest. This one will be nearly as hard as the last one, but potentially more rewarding this time, without tears being thrown around. Unless you're allergic to chalk.

~~O~~

"Why did you join the association, Arianna?" I asked while walking to the mess hall. So far nobody has tried to do anything to her since I'm almost always with her, but you never know.

"My family were also members of the association before they..." She gulped and paused, unable to continue and I couldn't help but wince.

"Sorry if I brought up some bad memories."

"No, it's alright, it's been a long time already. Still, while I had some link to the association it was because of mistress Brandelli that I entered the Copper-Black Cross," she slouched a bit and sighed, "It's too bad I don't have much talent for magic."

"Well, I'm not getting too many results myself either." I said while scratching the back of my head. "Why don't you try Thaumaturgy? There's a class that teaches it if my memory serves right."

"I don't know, while it is still considered a magical art there's a stigma against the practice." She was about to say more when she caught sight of Erica, whose mood soured when she saw both of us together. "I'm sorry, but I need to attend to mistress Erica."

I just nodded, but I idly noted the small group glaring at this table. Some sights followed her but others remained on me, trying to put a hole in my head through their glares alone.

~~O~~

A few days later someone approached me with a grave expression. "I need you to come with me to the director's office. It appears urgent."

Something was off about the way he said that but I decided to follow him to the office anyway, my mind going into overdrive trying to pick out the reason. Did the director find me out on the kitchen incident? I made sure to erase all possible proof and evidence that pointed against me, but then again it was only the physical clues that I tampered with, what about mystical ones?

With each step I fought down the urge to run or break into a cold sweat, forcing my breathing to remain even and keeping a calm exterior. I even ventured a vain hope of somehow talking my way out of trouble, and it was because of my distraction it took me so long to figure out that he wasn't leading me to the director office.

I kept to the charade until the end, curious about what he wanted with me. Arriving at a certain room we both entered, the room was almost pitch black but I could see a few shadows around. I only had to take a single step when candles lit the place and I could see there were roughly eleven, maybe twelve people surrounding me.

"You're the guy that fancies himself a friend of that failure," said the guy in front of me, probably the leader. "I don't see what's so special about you."

With a little glance I couldn't spot anyone with a fighting build and none that carried weapons, but then again they are all mages and underestimating them will lead me to a world of hurt. That being said…

"The director isn't here, right?" I stated out of blue, interrupting the guy in front of me, "For a moment there I thought I was in trouble." I couldn't help but feel a weight being lifted from my shoulders.

Immediately I charged at the leader before he could say anything, a flying kick to his gut sending him backwards to the wall, making him slide to the ground clutching his stomach.

The others were frozen on the spot for a few moments, before all hell broke loose inside the room. Without much room to maneuver myself I was always either surrounded or cornered with the wall at my back, but I could deal with this thanks to my foresight.

Kicking the mat into the group in front of me I stopped most of their charge by a few seconds, effectively creating two 'waves' coming towards me. I met the first wave with elbows and knees to their faces, weaving between them to meet the secondary wave with quick jabs and low kicks followed by a haymaker.

Without stopping I kicked the wall and passed through the group, evading most of their attempts to catch me, ending with the wall behind my back. The group charged at me but I dodged and weaved between their attacks, much faster than before. A few of them even broke the wall, leaving fist-sized indentations in it. Still, their technique was clumsy, clearly indicating that they relied on their enhanced abilities to attack me, but between their individual lack of skill and lack of coordination in their attack what was supposed to be a beating was turned on its head.

Just as I was thinking about that, one of them managed a grazing shot on my midsection, forcing me to misstep and allowing another one, coming from behind him, to land a punch on my face. Gritting my teeth and getting my head back in the fight I took his fist and turned around him, pinning him down. Taking him from the belt and his arm I threw him at a group coming towards us, hitting two of them with my 'projectile'. Jumping after it I kicked-slash-stepped on one of my enemies and kicked the jaw of another one.

Turning around I evaded another attack by a hair breath and used his own momentum to push him towards another attacker, preventing him from coming close enough to attack me. Someone else hit me on the back of my head, but I simply kicked him away while blocking the weaker attack of another.

They were also getting tired and losing their nerves, but were still very much dangerous. Steeling myself, I jumped forwards and hit one of them on the nose before throwing him at another group while blocking another attack from my side. With the leg in my hands I swept his other leg before spinning and hitting his face with my other foot's heel, using his head as stepping stone for another charge towards my enemies.

My fist met with the enemy's own and mine lost out in the clash of strength, but I used the momentum to spin around and hit him in his wide open ribs, dropping him to the ground.

Looking around, most of them were either down or dragging themselves up. I also wasn't in the best health, but in theory could still go on. Slowly I darted to the door while watching my back to see if any of them wanted to go after me, but none made a move towards me and I left the area.

It was only after I dealt with those guys that my sides started to really hurt. When I went to my room on the dormitory I decided to postpone the quest until I properly healed from this.

~~O~~

Cracking my neck, I took another swig of my drink, still feeling a bit banged up from the scuffle with the high school rejects, when I spotted Arianna eating dinner on a table.

"Hey," I said while walking towards her, "How are you doing? Did you put some thought into what we talked about last time?"

She smiled, motioning for me to take a seat. "I talked with mistress Erica and she agreed to help me enroll in that class right now. If anything, I should do well enough on the theoretical work."

"Most of it is theory anyway, theory and practice to perform the procedures like they're intended. Since they don't actively require magical power to use it should show results so long as you dedicate yourself." She nodded in response, her mood light. "Changing the subject a little, I might need a favor from you."

She tilted her head a bit. "A favor?"

"Yes. I might be in a li~ttle bit of trouble with the high school rejects right now since I refrained from using too much force against them. They might see it as a sign of weakness instead of a warning."

"High school rejects? … oh." She said, her mood immediately taking a turn down. "I'm sorry Mr. Abandonato, for dragging you into this."

I just waved her off. "I chose to help you and I don't regret it. Besides, at this point it's less about my association with you and more about payback for beating them up. I wanted your help, or more precisely Erica's help in stopping them from acting further. She must have connections within the association to either expel those morons or prevent them from acting like spoiled brats."

She bit her lip and looked sideways. "I'd rather not bother mistress Erica with such things."

"Not even as a favor to me?" I pleaded, making Arianna bite her lip harder.

She was about to answer when I felt a presence behind me. "A favor to you? Certainly you have gone mad, haven't you?"

Turning around, I saw the little terror somehow managing to look down on me even with her smaller frame.

"It's something that concerns Arianna too, so you should at least hear me out."

"No!" Pleaded Arianna. "Please Mr. Abandonato, there's no need to involve mistress Erica in my issues."

"Issues?" Erica slowly said before frowning, "Don't tell me they're still going after you, Arianna?"

She shut her mouth before looking away, earning a sigh from Erica. "I thought I had dealt with them by now."

"I wanted to ask you if there was any way to permanently stop them. I doubt the association condones such shameless acts."

"Of course not!" Somehow Erica felt offended by that remark, "The Black-Copper Cross prizes itself on the members' chivalry!"

"Then that's all the more reason we should deal with those scums swiftly and decisively, but I'm only one apprentice against several others and worse still, it's their word against mine. I doubt anyone will believe me when I say I took down a room full of apprentices by myself. Considering you're already a Knight I thought you could help us out with this."

"I already know which parts you're talking about. Sadly, without some evidence we can't expel them, and somehow they're good at erasing their tracks," her frown turned into a full out glare now, "And sadly they aren't alone in their thoughts about putting down Arianna for her difficulties. But if they're escalating into group fights then perhaps I might have the means to permanently deal with them."

"Well, I'm all ears. I'll help in any way I can."

At this Erica grinned, sending shivers down my spine. "Maybe I have something that can include you. Consider all our past grievances erased if everything pans out."

Still feeling a sense of dread, I agreed.

~~O~~

Erica's plan would take a few days to set up first, so I had plenty of time to rest and plan for my latest quest.

While this one is relatively easier than the last one, the main issue will be performing it as quickly as possible without alerting the security, but since the target's building is empty of any valuables it should be doable.

~~O~~

I carefully finished the circle, and with a few jumps I can end the top part of the design perfectly on the chalkboard. I was about to enter the final stages of the drawing when I heard a sound coming from outside.

Thinking quickly, I jumped on the ceiling and pressed myself against the sides like a movie ninja.

"Who's there?" Came the voice of the male security guard. "Anyone there?" He pointed his flashlight towards the seats and the board, catching sight of my drawing. "Somebody must have forgotten to clean the board and lock the doors. Typical."

He was mindful enough to clean up my work before closing and locking the door once more. I waited for a few minutes to pass before I sighed and dropped down, glad he forgot to look up.

That was too close for comfort.

Still, it took me only a few minutes to write it again once more and leave a small part unfinished for tomorrow. With the small modifications I made on the seal, once someone with enough magical potential, basically anyone who isn't me or Arianna, finishes the drawing with the instructions on the board the ward will activate and become a simple alarm system that will activate every time someone new enters the ward radius.

Easily dismissed by cleaning the chalkboard, I officially ended my quest after making this drawing in at least ten classrooms, earning a bonus by performing this in all fifteen classrooms.

It took a while to think up how to plan this right, and how to make sure I could clean up all the evidence about my involvement, but I had done it.

… It's not something I should be proud off, though. Fortunately, this time I didn't have to cause trouble for anybody else.

As the dice appeared I took my haul and rolled them immediately on the ground as usual, earning a meager 14 points from the dice I accumulated, my cellphone vibrated once more.

**'Congratulations! You are now eligible to become an A-ranker by performing the special quest!'**

**'Are you proud of yourself? After so many trials, so many quests you finally did it!'**

**'Did you cry when you learned that you were a Dicer and could change yourself?'**

**'Did you feel proud when you made so many uninvolved people cry with your quests?'**

**'Did you feel excited when you pushed that thirteen year old girl to the wolves?'**

**'Did you feel righteous when you rescued that maiden for Dice?'**

**'Everything will pale in comparison once you gain your Special Dice!'**

**'Rejoice dear player, for your wish shall be granted.'**

At this point I had learned to avoid jumping on X's taunts about me and my morality, though lately I had second had thoughts on how far I went to gain more dice. While rarer than before, I still keep earning some dice through 'boring' and 'safe' quests.

If I waited patiently I could have reached this point regardless, but somehow the thought of more dice cut right though my mental defenses and made me a reckless idiot. I didn't need to be reminded by X every now and then of the despicable things I sometimes did in my quest for more dice, and in return, more power and knowledge.

I winced, recalling my talk with Lucretia.

I doubt she could look at me right now and be pleased with what she saw.

That's why I'm going through with Erica's plan, even if it sounds painfully crazy.

Looking at the new Special Quest I couldn't help but grin. For once X gave me an 'easy' quest, or at least one I had no problem with performing.

**'Go through Erica Brandelli's plan without complaining.'**

**'Reward: x1 ? Dice'**

~~O~~

As planned, I walked through the city, faking a few errands I had to make. We even made sure the targets heard me talking with Arianna in the mess hall.

It didn't take long before they took the bite, just as I saw someone enter the edge of my vision. I kept walking at a sedate pace, and, walking to the outskirts of Milan and I made a show of looking around a few times behind my back before continuing my walk.

It took a few minutes, but eventually someone came after me from behind in a lightning-fast display of speed. If I weren't already aware of his presence I would have probably missed him. As it was, the harder part was to not react when something knocked me down and put me in a large leather bag. I struggled a bit, hearing some words before being dragged to who knows where.

It didn't take long before I was tossed on the ground and could crawl out of the bag, finding myself facing the same group of people I had fought before.

"Look what we found here," said a tall guy with a goatee. "That Asian idiot who thought he could kung fu his way out of trouble. I'm still feeling my side to this day, you son of a whore!"

"It's half-Asian you moron, and last I heard the association also has martial arts training as requirement for becoming a knight. If you have such a weak constitution after taking a few hits even after magical healing you probably aren't cut out for it."

I had to hide a grin as I stood up with my taunt, though my mood sobered rather quickly.

So far, Phase One of the plan went without a hitch.

First, I would act as living bait to the group by going away from the 'safer' association compound. Next, Erica would use a mole in their group to give them the idea to drag me to a pre-arranged location, by which time Erica would have already alerted the senior Knights about a group of ruffians about to attack an apprentice in a large group with lethal intent.

Next came Phase Two, the more dangerous one which involved a single thing.

Survive.

… What? I said the plan was painful and crazy.

"So you want to do that again? Last I checked I kicked all your asses by myself. What, do you think things will be different? Did you become stronger in the few days since our last scuffle, or did you become smarter in that time and realize that was an awful idea?"

Two guys detached themselves from the group, murder in their eyes. They ran at me with great speed, far faster than a normal human had the right to be. Still, their technique was clumsy and I could dodge the attack from one of them, using the the other as partial cover before I planted a knee in their faces and taking a bit of distance myself.

They lunged back, their eyes bloodshot and their expressions barely human anymore. They had probably entered into a berserk state to hopefully overwhelm me, but instead their lack of technique allows me to easily evade their attacks. With a immediate reprisal, I send a straight punch to one enemy's solar plexus before twisting myself and elbowing the back of his head, downing one of them.

The remaining one tried to grab me, but instead I switched stances and took hold of the grapple, kicking under his feet and quickly taking him in a chokehold for a few seconds until he stopped struggling.

"So, who's next?" I said after dropping my enemy on the ground, not even winded from this attack.

At my words the guy that looked the leader of the group stepped forward, but not without having at least four bodyguards between me and him. "I think I'll take him from here," he said before taking a small clay tiger from his pocket, "Or better yet, my pet will take him out."

At this, he started to say a few Spellwords in order to give life and transmute the clay tiger into what looked like the real thing.

"If you bow down now and lick my feet, perhaps I will-" I interrupted him by charging at the clay tiger with my strongest kick as of yet today, chipping away some of the clay in the head, making it blind on one side. The animal golem acted like the real thing and tried to attack me with a pounce, but I jumped and rolled to the side, getting some distance between us.

Once more, I was faster, and I timed my movements at the right time to jump above the enemy once it tried to come after my hide once more. Once above the golem I put my arm around it's neck and started strangling, using all my strength to try and bend and twist it's neck.

We went on with that struggle of strength for a while, until the golem's neck gave in, and with a loud *CRACK* the neck snapped and cracked, breaking in the middle and leaving a huge piece of the golem's face on my arms, only the left side and part of its ear was still attached to the body.

The beast still walked for a little while, but without the head and the specially enchanted paper animating the rest of the body it soon stopped, the body becoming rigid while the head kept trying to bite me. With a simple kick I returned the piece back to it's owner, who was looking aghast at my savage display.

"Is that it? Did you think that fighting against a non-human opponent would make me freeze like an amateur? Frankly I'm insulted more than anything." I tried to downplay the wounds I took while trying to evade that thing as nothing, but if you took the time to see my arm and chests had some nasty gashes on them.

I was still more than ready to keep fighting, even against this many people, though I would rather avoid it if possible.

"Well, that's a thing." He stated deadpan with a shrug. "Who knew? Guess I need to go to plan B. As an Asian, you should know this, right?"

He took a few origami from his pockets and again repeated a few Spellwords for each of his origami, the four bodyguards unmoving and dutifully protecting their charge.

Soon there were five natural sized paper golems after me. Or Shikigami if you feel like showing off your Japanese as a fancy way to say 'familiars' in another language and a different magical tradition.

Unfortunately, it didn't change the fact that I had five paper monsters after my skin.

One of them loosely resembled a samurai with his sword, there was another tiger-like creature, a flying crane with a sharp beak, a bear of all things… and a frog?

I stared at the frog for a few moments before looking back at the mage.

For his part he remained silently stoic.

… must be hideously poisonous then.

For my part, I tried to play the cocky martial arts master, at which I only partially succeeded. "So," I said while extending my arm in a 'come here' motion, "Who's first?"

I said 'who's next', but internally I was hoping the answer was 'nobody' and they would suddenly change their ways about wanting to maim or kill me.

Sadly, that wasn't possible, and the paper samurai decided to come after my neck. Steeling my resolve against the enemy I managed to dodge to the side and away from his sword. He was fast with his blade, though his technique wasn't the best, which was what allowed me to keep avoiding certain death.

I watched his movements until I was certain, and lunged into the blade's path. Catching the paper sword with my hands I bit down a cry of pain from having my hands being sliced apart, but I could still parry the blade successfully.

Gritting my teeth under the pain, I slid one of my hands down the blade's length and grabbed the hand holding the sword while the other hand twisted and held the blade. By quickly coming closer to the paper samurai I tripped him, and with the falling motion and my added weight I acted as a guillotine and almost beheaded the paper warrior, taking a few more hacking motions to truly end it, the shikigami twitching and moving for a short time before going still.

Taking the sword in my hand I concluded that yes, it was still sharp and useable. I didn't have much time to appreciate my kill though, since the paper tiger came after my skin.

I didn't have much time to dodge, being only able to rise my left arm to protect my face and chest, letting the beast take my arm and start shredding it. I gritted my teeth to prevent a yell of pain escaping and making me lose my concentration, but with the enemy so intent on eating my arm I had time to properly aim and with a single expert motion I sliced it's throat upwards and decapitated it.

I quickly drew back the sword, and with a smooth motion I threw the sword at the crane, hitting it in the chest and killing it instantly with a lucky shot.

Unfortunately, the bear was still fresh as a daisy and I was already on my last legs. Hell, the FROG had a good chance about finishing me off at this point.

The bear dropped on all fours and charged at me, and all I could do was to try to defend myself with my right arm, but it was quickly bitten and painfully yanked left and right until I heard a loud *POP* from my shoulder getting out of it's place and I was unceremoniously tossed a few meters backyards.

"Tsk," I heard from the ground while bleeding quickly from all of my wounds, my head starting to become light. "Guess that's what happen if you don't know what's good for you. Now, should I let you bleed on your own or should I hasten your inevitable death?"

"F… fuck y-you."

"Hastening the inevitable it is then. Kuma, finish him!"

I tried to stand up, to crawl away but I felt so tired…

"What's inevitable will be your punishment, Alessandro Bazzoli," said a calm, deep voice in a level tone. Though I couldn't recognize who it was I was still very glad for hearing it, and tilting my head to the side I could see Erica and a few other people entering the warehouse. Some of the high school rejects tried to run, but I could hear them cursing and sounds of battle on the outside.

Erica came to my side with another knight, and spared a glance at all the blood on the ground. "You look terrible."

I wanted to say 'You look late', but refrained from doing so. Partly because the quest required me to go through it without complaining, partly because my everything hurt right now.

The man at my side knelt down and chanted a few Spellwords, his arm taking a light blue hue as he placed it on my chest. Slowly, painfully slowly, I felt the pain of fading away and the wounds slowly closing, taking me away from the immediate danger of bleeding off to death.

A few minutes later my arms didn't felt like mincemeat and I could sit once more, even if I was still feeling pain. "Where were you a few days ago?" I jokingly asked.

"Vacation in Portugal," he answered without missing a beat.

~~O~~

A few hours later we were back in the association compound being debriefed about what happened. All I had to do was to speak the truth about the circumstances of the fight before the group was declared unfit to be associated with the Copper Black Cross and were expelled. Apparently there were a couple Knights and one or two Great Knights that will be displeased with this turn of events, but this time they had gone too far, with a new apprentice no less.

I think me being here due to Lucretia's recommendation played a part in how things went so well.

That wasn't what was on my mind at the moment, though.

"... with this any and all grievances between us is gone. Are you satisfied?" Erica looked bored, probably wanting to be anywhere else but in front of me at this time, but her red hot hostility towards me had faded away.

"Actually, no. There's something else I need to do." With this I tilted my head and a little of my torso, unable to bend fully due to still recuperating myself from the damage I took.

"I'm sorry." I said with a clear voice, earning a raised eyebrow from the girl in front of me.

"I was thinking this whole time about what I did to you and Arianna. I just assumed you would be alright, and worse still, I assumed they wouldn't hurt her once someone started an assault on the kidnappers' position. I could have killed you both, when I could have simply explained myself and perhaps lent my aid to you two. For that I'm deeply sorry."

"... You're forgiven." She said, a bit off balance from my declaration. "You know, you could have asked for forgiveness earlier. While I wouldn't like you afterwards, I would at least have known you understood how idiotic you've been."

I just shrugged, "I'm not really good at asking for forgiveness. I keep looking for the right moment but I often miss it, not telling others I'm sorry and leaving a bad impression on my part. It's a good thing I had two chances to ask for forgiveness this time, since I blew the first one."

She blinked once, twice before something seemed to dawn on her. "So that's why you...? And then with the...?" She shook her head before taking a deep sigh, "Now I'm feeling bad for not forgiving you earlier. You're crazy, and I held a grudge against someone who clearly didn't knew any better."

"Oh ha hah."

"Still, Arianna seems to like you company, it would be wise to learn how to cope with you. So long as you don't try to pass your craziness onto her."

"How generous of you, clearly you're a paragon of chivalry."

"I know, right?" She said right through my sarcasm. "Sometimes I surprise even myself."

In response I shake my head and chuckled, not really wanting to deal with this right now.

~~O~~

With the Special Dice in my hand, I took a deep breath before falling on my bed. I had gained it midway through the car ride back the association and I hid it on my pocket, waiting until a later time to roll it.

Now that I'm in my room I couldn't help but feel curious about what will fall. All sides had a question mark on them and this Dice was bright gold instead of the shimmering blue of the normal dice.

Well, the dice won't be rolling itself, will it?

As I took the dice in my not-horrible hand I rolled it on the desk, I cracked my neck and prayed to the RNG for a good roll, whatever it was.

Just as it landed, the room lit up with a bright golden light, and I found myself standing in a pitch black void, save for a small, golden light ball floating right in front of me.

"You have to choose a theme", said an androgynous, electronic synthesized-sounding voice.

"Who's there!?" I yelled. The response was a strange synthesized chuckle that send chills down my spine.

"Can't you recognize your own GM?" Replyed the voice. "Now I'm hurt, after we went through so many things together."

"X? Is that you?"

"Amazing! Your memory works! Please give him a round of applause everyone!"

Against all odds I could hear the sounds of applause all around me, as if I was in the middle of a packed football stadium. As sudden it began, the clapping vanished.

"Let's get down to business then," continued X. "As a new A-ranker you are entitled three things free of charge. Prize number one, your Essence statistic will be unlocked and can be raised like any other characteristic", another electronic chuckle, "Well, perhaps not like 'any other', but you can check it out later."

"Prize number two, you can choose a Theme for yourself, something that empowers you, that defines you, something simple that can be defined in a single word. Don't fret if you miscalculate and choose a poor theme for yourself, for there are ways around that you can check later."

"Prize number three, you gain whatever landed on the Special Dice as a bonus. This is a one time promotion, and in the future when you roll a Special Dice this will be the sole prize you will win."

Idly I nodded, and looked at the golden ball once more. Instinctively I reached it out, trying to grasp with my hand, and as I did so I declared my theme to the heavens.

"Whatever I do, whatever I set out to do, whatever I wish to do, there's only one outcome. This is my theme, my definition, my core."

"I am SUCCESS!"

The golden ball lit up brightly for a moment, chasing the darkness away. Then I was suddenly back in my room, the dice changing from a golden light to a soft silver glow.

Looking at the die on the ground I saw a small image. In it there was a arrow resembling a snake on top going left/right and at the bottom there was a dragon going right/left. It instantly evoked in my mind the concept of 'change'.

My cellphone rang once more. It was X wanting to talk.

**'With so many themes you choose that?'**

**'...'**

**'...'**

**'...'**

**'Ha, ha ha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'**

**'Now that was a good joke!'**

**'But the question is, who is the punchline?'**

**'That's clearly the best part, don't you think?'**

**'Anyway, listen closely because I'm going to tell you the rules of being an A-ranker now.'**

I felt this was going to be a long read, so I made sure to be hydrated and fed when I finished that.

~~O~~

The rules are as follows.

I would still get 'normal' quests alongside rarer 'special' quests. I could trade special quest rewards with dice points, but I couldn't do the reverse, so I could trade my 'change' dice into dice points but I couldn't 'buy' back my spent 'change' dice. This rule could also apply to my Themes, though I'm obligated to keep at least one Theme.

I could have an unlimited number of themes 'stocked', but they were useless like that. In order to put my themes to use I had to 'equip' them to myself and the number of themes I could equip was limited to my Willpower, and yes, the limit would increase if I raised this statistic.

I could buy special magic called 'Charms' that were tied to my themes. The Charms had to follow my themes and in case I 'unequipped' a prerequisite theme all charms tied to that theme were unavailable until I 'equip' it again.

I could also buy special magic called 'Spells' once I get hold of special Charms, and more talk about them would come after I met the prerequisites.

For now, that's it.

Closing the character sheet app I let out a long suffering sigh. And here I thought the need for more quests would lessen a bit, but instead it increased with all the new things I could buy.

Shaking my head, I went back to my bed in order to rest.

Today was a tiring day.

* * *

><p><strong>Updated 298/2014**


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